Cartel Resilience in Australian Markets 1901–1967

This paper examines the persistence of cartel behaviour in Australia using evidence gathered from 1901 to 1939, when interest in cartels was intense, and academic studies from the 1950s and 1960s, when modern antitrust legislation was introduced. The aim is not to identify long-term cartels, but factors that might forecast the emergence of cartel behaviour. We identify cartel-like behaviour, by different players in different periods and circumstances but in the same or related industries and environments, as demonstrating “cartel resilience”. While industry structures may provide the best “anthropological” evidence of cartels, more can be learned from evidence of cartel-like behaviour across business and market types over an extended period.