A thought provoking piece from the New Yorker:
The article states:
“Economists
typically assert that cartels dissolve naturally after members cheat or become
irrational. When computers are the actors, though, detection is faster and not
prone to human errors or failings, making defection less likely. Automated
participants can identify price changes more quickly, allowing defectors who
lower prices at the expense of the group to be sifted out earlier. Given this
dynamic, participants have little incentive to either “cheat” the group or to
leave it. Put another way, computers are likely to handle the classic
prisoner’s dilemma better than humans.”