A Survey of the Experimental Studies on Leniency Programs

The purpose of this article is to survey recent experimental studies on leniency programs, which have been introduced in competition policies around the world. Some theoretical studies show that leniency programs are effective to dissolve cartels, but they are not strong enough to deter new cartels from being formed. Although one empirical study confirms that leniency programs are effective to dissolve cartels, it is hard to judge from field data whether leniency programs deter cartels and how they influence market prices. To solve these issues, experimental economics studies on leniency programs have been conducted. Most of them also discovered that leniency programs are effective to dissolve cartels. However, it is still necessary to continue to carry out experimental studies to examine the effects on the stability of cartels and market prices, in terms of institutional parameters, such as the investigation frequency, timing of whistle blowing, and the number of firms which can receive leniency