We analyze 15 German cartels, focusing on the personal characteristics of the individual participants, the methods and frequency of communication as well as the internal organizational structures within the cartels and their eventual breakup. Our results indicate that cartel members are highly homogeneous and often rely on existing networks within the industry, such as trade associations. Most impressively, only two of the 158 individuals involved in these 15 cartels were female, suggesting that gender plays a role for cartel formation. We further identify various forms of communication and divisions of responsibilities and show that leniency programs are a powerful tool in breaking up cartels. Based on these results we discuss implications for competition policy and further research.

我们分析了 15 个德国卡特尔，重点关注个体参与者的个人特征、沟通的方法和频率以及卡特尔的内部组织结构及其最终解体。我们的研究结果表明，卡特尔成员高度同质，并且往往依赖行业内现有的网络，例如行业协会。最令人印象深刻的是，参与这 15 个卡特尔的 158 名个人中只有两人是女性，这表明性别在卡特尔的形成中发挥着重要作用。我们进一步确定了各种形式的沟通和责任分工，并表明宽大处理计划是打破卡特尔的有力工具。基于这些结果，我们讨论了对竞争政策和进一步研究的影响。