Estimating Damages from Price-Fixing - The Value of Transaction Data

Abstract

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. Although the public and academic discourse on the various methods and models to estimate damages certainly is a necessary step in the process of strengthening antitrust damages actions, the challenges of applying them in actual cases with real-world data are often ignored. Against this background, we use a unique private data set of about 340,000 Non-technical summaryinvoice positions from 36 smaller and larger customers of German cement producers to study the value of such transaction data for an estimation of cartel damages. In particular, we investigate, first, how structural break analysis can be used to identify the exact end of the cartel agreement and, second, how an application of before-and-after approaches to estimate the price overcharge can benefit from such rich data sets. We conclude that transaction data allows such a detailed assessment of the cartel and its impact on direct customers that its regular application in private antitrust cases is desired as long as data collection and preparation procedures are not prohibitively expensive. Das Wichtigste in KürzeGemäß der Rechtsprechung des Europäischen Gerichtshofs (EuGH) muss jedem May 2012 AbstractWe use a unique private data set of about 340,000 invoice positions from 36 smaller and larger customers of German cement producers to study the value of such transaction data for an estimation of cartel damages. In particular, we investigate, first, how structural break analysis can be used to identify the exact end of the cartel agreement and, second, how an application of before-and-after approaches to estimate the price overcharge can benefit from such rich data sets. We conclude that transaction data allows such a detailed assessment of the cartel and its impact on direct customers that its regular application in private antitrust cases is desired as long as data collection and preparation procedures are not prohibitively expensive.

Rent sharing to control noncartel supply in the German cement market

“…It is fair to say that the German cement manufacturers ran an effective cartel as reflected in an average overcharge exceeding 25% (Hüschelrath, Müller, & Veith, 2016) and a duration exceeding a decade. Though the cartel eventually collapsed due to the lack of compliance of one of its members, it was able to constrain external sources of instability.…”