How are price fixing agreements unfair?

The assumption that consumer welfare and efficiency is the sole concern of antitrust law conflicts with what people view as unfair about antitrust law. Previous empirical results suggest that people view it as unfair when they feel that businesses rip them off through unequal transactions, such as price fixing and other forms of collusive behavior. The evidence also suggests that people's price-fixing attitudes vary depending on the circumstances. For instance, people judge price fixing as a moral violation influenced by the dual entitlement principle and the double effect theory. Moreover, results suggest that people’s intuitions about price fixing are not static and move whenever the social and moral context changes. (Delvasto 2019) Research that addresses antitrust law and what people view as unfair, however, is still limited, and the present project aims to further contribute in filling the research gap. The present research project attempts to assess people’s intuitions about what is unfair about price fixing in Colombia, United States and Spain.