ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The practice of collusion is illegal. Most capitalist countries have laws safeguarding competition. In the USA, anti-trust legislation prohibits monopolization, restraints of trade, and collusion among firms. The foundation of this legislation was laid 120 years ago with the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act (both 1914). The fundamental idea behind this legislation is that free competition serves the general welfare best by limiting the power of any one party when determining price and quantity through the interaction of supply and demand (Samuelson and Nordhaus 1989). The idea is to protect the weaker market side and therefore to enable a competitive market to develop that is sustainable and efficient.
