AND increases prices by facilitating market cartels
Margaret K. Kyle and David B. Ridley 7, Margaret Kyle is an assistant professor in the Departments of Strategic and International Management and of Economics, London Business School (London, England), a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (Cambridge, Massachusetts), and a research affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London). David Ridley (david.ridley@duke.edu) is an assistant professor in the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina., 9-1-2007, "Would Greater Transparency And Uniformity Of Health Care Prices Benefit Poor Patients?," No Publication, http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/26/5/1384.full
Facilitate seller collusion. Third, transparent prices might facilitate collusion among sellers and raise prices.7 George Stigler demonstrated that secret discounts can drive down prices paid in many markets.8 In contrast, price transparency can increase prices by making cartels easier to enforce.9