alt Hacker NewsIt's likely the cartel was only <1% of the egg price increase. It's good to go after, but it wasn't the main cause of price increases.
Some background for the <1% estimate:
- The fine was for 3M vs a 13B egg market
- The only quotation I could find covering how much the cartel raised prices was "placed bids at a price that was two cents greater" from Matt Levine's piece: https://emailshot.io/p/LKaQi73kHN4uv5sVMUbfSXNQdm3ELgy9j. That's ~1% of the Northwest Large White benchmark price of $5.43
The best evidence for the impact is how rapidly and significantly the price dropped when the investigation was announced. You can see it in the second chart here: https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/crime-pays-the-egg-bandit...