Deception in commercial negotiation

“... I hate, detest, and can't bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavor of mortality in lies ...” — JOSEPH CONRAD, ‘Heart of Darkness’.

Abstract

Buyers and sellers of inputs of production, to the degree that they must negotiate directly with each other and cannot have recourse to more impersonal markets, share in certain aspects of bilateral monopoly. Under these circumstances, and assuming profit maximizing goals for each, deception often seems to be an unavoidable characteristic of negotiation.