For all the splashy headlines, stiff sanctions, and caught-on-tape teaching moments generated over the years, price fixing appears to be as pervasive as ever. Recent cases involve everything from paraffin wax to computer chips to air cargo fees. Just this month, the Web site for the European Commission trumpeted an investigation into cement companies, and in August, Epson Imaging Devices pleaded guilty to fixing prices of liquid-crystal displays used in Motorola Razr cell phones. "New ones keep popping up all the time," says John M. Connor, a professor at Purdue University who has done extensive research on cartels.
