Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers Creation-Date: 2012-06-18 Number: 12-058/1 Author-Name: Pim Heijnen Author-Workplace-Name: University of Groningen Author-Name: Marco A. Haan Author-Workplace-Name: University of Groningen Author-Name: Adriaan R. Soetevent Author-Workplace-Name: University of Amsterdam Title: Screening for Collusion: A Spatial Statistics Approach Abstract: Published in the 'Journal of Economic Geography'.

We develop a method to screen for local cartels. We first test whether there is statistical evidence of clustering of outlets that score high on some characteristic that is consistent with collusive behavior. If so, we determine in a second step the most suspicious regions where further antitrust investigation would be warranted. We apply our method to build a variance screen for the Dutch gasoline market.

Classification-JEL: C11, D40, L12, L41 Keywords: collusion, variance screen, spatial statistics, K-function File-Url: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/12058.pdf File-Format: application/pdf File-Size: 776287 bytes Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20120058