Cartel Behaviour and Boys’ Club Dynamics French Cartel Practice Through a Gender Lens

Besides their economic and legal dimensions, anticompetitive cartels are also social organisations structured around interpersonal relationships and cultural norms. In this context, the prevalence in many industries of male dominated informal networks, or “boys’ clubs”, could explain the creation and maintenance of cartels beyond what rational choice theory would predict. In order to verify this hypothesis, we conducted an analysis of cartel decisions by the French competition authority, between 2010 and 2021, as well as a comprehensive review of relevant literature on behavioural economics applied to antitrust, gender dynamics in the workplace, and the role of informal professional networks in other white collar crimes, such as corruption or insider trading. Our study confirms that there exist a correlation between the prevalence, in many economic sectors, of informal networks based on typical masculine values, and the permanence of cartel practices. Moreover, the very same mechanism that favours trust among men, and the emergence of illicit behaviour, also leads to the exclusion of women from dominant professional networks, thus limiting their opportunities for career development and promotion.