Information Sharing and Collusion: General Principles and the Agri Stats Experience

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0003603X221149326
• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Date: 01 March 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0003603X221149326

The Antitrust Bulletin

2023, Vol. 68(1) 10 –23

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/0003603X221149326

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Article

Information Sharing and Collusion:

General Principles and the Agri

Stats Experience

David E. M. Sappington* and Douglas C. Turner*

Abstract

We review some central conclusions from the economics literature regarding the likely impact

of information sharing by industry suppliers on consumer welfare. We also review the specific

information sharing activities undertaken by Agri Stats. We conclude that although some elements

of Agri Stats’ activities may have had the potential to enhance consumer welfare, several elements of

the activities reflect features of information sharing that the common wisdom suggests are relatively

likely to harm consumers.

Keywords

information sharing, collusion, Agri Stats

I. Introduction

Agri Stats (Agri Stats, Inc. and its subsidiary, Express Markets) provides information to its customers,

who are suppliers of meat products, including chicken, turkey, beef, and pork. The information that

Agri Stats provides to its customers includes statistics on the outputs of industry suppliers, the size of

their herds or flocks, the inputs they employ in the production process, the costs of these inputs, and the

suppliers’ earnings. Agri Stats develops “customized reports and graphs to identify for each customer

exactly how every level of their operation performed in a given period, and how they compared

with similar organizations in the industry.” In principle, these reports can help to identify “efficiency

opportunities on a farm, flock, or plant level.” Agri Stats’ stated mission is to “improve the bottom line

profitability for our participants by providing accurate and timely comparative data while preserving

the confidentiality of individual companies.”1

Agri Stats has been accused of participating in “a conspiracy . . . to fix, raise, maintain, and stabilize

the price of pork” and some of the other protein commodities identified above.2 The accusations reflect

*Department of Economics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

Corresponding Author:

David E. M. Sappington, Department of Economics, University of Florida, 224 Matherly Hall, P.O. Box 117140, Gainesville, FL

32611-7140, USA.

Email: sapping@ufl.edu

1149326ABXXXX10.1177/0003603X221149326The Antitrust BulletinSappington and Turner

research-article2023

1. Agri Stats, Inc., Partnership and Services, https://www.agristats.com/partnership.

2. In re Pork Antitrust Litigation, Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs’ Third Amended and Consolidated Class Action Complaint, No.

18-cv-1776-JRT-HB at ¶2.