(Mis)understanding Algorithmic Collusion

For a few years now, there has been a lot of talk about pricing algorithms and their potential for collusion. This article first provides a simple typology of pricing algorithms, in order to take away much of the confusion that is still surrounding the debate. It then goes on to discuss three potential misunderstandings: (i) that there are basically no cases involving algorithmic collusion and hence that there is no real problem; (ii) that nothing changes, legally speaking, if algorithms collude