Answer:
D. Earn short run economic profits
Explanation:
A cartel can be defined as a formal agreement reached (collusion) in an oligopolistic industry between two or more business firms that are saddled with the responsibility of producing goods and services in order to make price and output decisions such as price regulation, total level of output or supply, allocation of customers, market shares, territory allocation, division of profits, collusive bidding etc.
This ultimately implies that, when a group of independent firms in an oligopolistic industry collude by reaching a formal agreement to regulate supply, as well as manipulate or regulate prices, they do so to increase their profits and market dominance.
Hence, firms colluding earn short run economic profits.
