Problem:
A cartel is a group of producers that creates a formal written agreement specifying how much each member will produce and charge.
The professional sports leagues of baseball (American and National Leagues), football (National Football League), basketball (National Basketball Association), and hockey (National Hockey League) are unique to the American business landscape in that government has granted them legal cartel status.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is the most significant international cartel. Cartels are illegal in the U.S., thus any collusion that exists is secret. There are also some illegal collusions in the history. Can you provide any from your reading?
Examples of these illegal, covert agreements include the 1993 collusion between dairy companies convicted of rigging bids for milk products sold to schools and, in 1996, American agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland, three Japanese firms, and a South Korean firm were found to have conspired to fix the worldwide price and sales volume of a livestock feed additive.