A group of people working together to keep the prices artificially low (or artificially high, depending on the scenario) by agreeing not to outbid each other. It's a form of collusion that's generally considered fraud.
Say a construction contract is up for bid. You and your buddy are the main competition for the project. But instead of putting in truly competitive bids, you guys get together and decide that you're going to put in the same amount. This way, whichever one of you gets the final bid, that person is going to make more than if the bidding was fair.
In this example, you and your friend are the bidding ring, and what you've just conspired to do is called bid rigging (See: Bid Rigging). We expect you to go to your room and think about what you've hypothetically done.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is the Free Rider Problem?10 Views
finance a la shmoop. what is the free rider problem? free rider not Easy Rider
but a great film ask your parents about it and go watch it someday.
alright and if there was any confusion this video is not about ebikes either. [kid holds up VHS in a movie rental store]
you know those battery-powered bikes? okay so you're a tax derelict. you hate
paying taxes so much you just don't. but then North Korea sends over a nuke.
well it's about ten miles off the coast just about to make you glow in the dark
forever, when one of our homing robot defense missiles shoots out the belly of
a nuclear sub, and blows that nuke from North Korea all the smithereen. thank you
very much. so now the country is safe not so much North Korea but that's a
different story. well you didn't want to pay your taxes. [missile flies through the air]
you didn't want to fund that sub or the brave sailors in it or the homing drone
or the myriad other fancy tech things that powered it. you deadbeat tax non
payer that you are, you wanted a free ride. a free ride on everyone else's hard
earned money that they paid taxes on. all right so how do we avoid this problem
like you? well we have the IRS and they have an army of geeks who make sure you
pay your taxes, so you can't just freeride on the rest of our backs. and if
you don't pay your taxes you face serious jail time and we'll have to end
up paying more than if you just fallin in step and pay your taxes on time along [man is thrown in jail.]
with everyone else. got it all right free-rider problem solved.
Up Next
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Painting the tape is an illegal way to manipulate stock prices. And yes, it’s still illegal, even if you paint it super pretty.
A phishing scam is a con in which someone is contacted online in an attempt to procure money or personal information. We'd never do that. In fact,...