Research joint ventures and collusion - What can we learn from European commission decisions?

This paper offers an indirect approach to test for possible anticompetitive behaviour of firms engaged in European Research Joint Ventures. I analyze the cumulated abnormal returns of the partner firms for the days surrounding the announcement of the RJV. The sample contains firms that “can be suspected of collusion” and firms that “are not suspected of collusion”. I assume that Shareholders are aware of this difference at the moment of the announcement. I construct a categorical variable that distinguish between the two groups of firms and using a simple empirical specification I test for the effect of this variable on the abnormal returns of the participant firms. At the end of the analysis, however, I find not enough evidence to affirm that RJVs facilitate collusion behaviours.