Experimental results on collusion

We review the experimental literature on collusion, focusing in particular on the role of information. We confront the results with the theoretical literature and discuss the policy implications. The main insights from the experimental literature are the following. In the standard environment, firms have little success in achieving collusion. The only mildly collusive results are achieved when just two firms are active. Evidence on the effect of increasing the amount of available information on the likelihood of collusion is mixed. Voluntary information sharing has some collusive effect, even though collusion is not the main reason that firms choose to do so. The availability of the history of an industry's past prices seems to have some effect on the ability to collude.