Conscious Parallelism is the pricing fixing strategies among competitors in an oligopoly that occurs without an actual agreement between the players.
Reference Definition by OECD: Conscious Parallelism is under conditions of oligopoly, the pricing and output actions of one firm have a significant impact upon that of its rivals. Firms may after some period of repeated actions become conscious or aware of this fact and without an explicit agreement coordinate their behaviour as if they were engaged in collusive behaviour or a cartel to fix prices and restrict output. The fear that departure from such behaviour may lead to costly price cutting, lower profits and market share instability may further create incentives for firms to maintain such an implicit arrangement amongst themselves.
