The Deterrent Impact of Cartel Criminalisation: Supplementary Report on a Survey of Australian Public Opinion Regarding Business People's Views on Anti-Cartel Laws and Enforcement

Abstract:     
In July 2009 the Australian Parliament passed legislation criminalising cartel conduct and introducing jail penalties for individuals who engage in cartel behaviour. The rhetoric justifying criminalisation assumes that compliance can be induced through the mechanism of deterrence. This in turn assumes that business people know about the law, and that they believe they are likely to be caught and face enforcement action and jail if they break the law. This paper reports evidence on these issues from a survey of 567 Australian business people whose role makes compliance with anti-cartel law salient.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 46

Keywords: cartel, criminalising, Australia, deterrence, business people, enforcement, survey, public opinion

JEL Classification: K40, K42, K20, K10

Accepted Paper Series