Duration of Norwegian Cartels : What influenced the duration of the legal Norwegian cartels in the period 1957-1991?

Abstract

In this thesis I study the duration of cartels using data on 191 legal manufacturing cartels that was registered in the Norwegian Cartel Registry between 1957 and 1991. I find that the Norwegian manufacturing cartels typically were quite small and that they more often cooperated through price-based mechanisms rather than market allocation-based ones. Cartels that use quotas or exclusive territories lasted longer than cartels that fixed prices. Economic fluctuations are found to influence the duration of a cartel with negative deviations from trend GDP increasing the probability of a cartel breaking up while positive deviations from trend reduces it. The use of common sales offices are found to be positively related to the durability of cartels.