Inscrutable OPEC? Behavioral tests of the cartel hypothesis*.

Although OPEC is commonly viewed as a syndicate of agriculturists engaged in cooperative efforts to restrict production and raise price, to date there is a surprising dearth of supporting statistical evidence to that issue I show that standard statistical ordeals of OPEC behavior have real low power across a wide range of alternative hypotheses regarding market arrangement Consequently, it is difficult, given the common availability and precision of data upon demand and costs, to distinguish collusive from competitive behavior in the world oil market. I apply a of recent origin production-based approach for examining alternative hypotheses and find athletic evidence of cooperative ...