Here's another quote from the article: > The cartel lowered operational costs and worked to standardize the life expectancy of light bulbs at 1,000 hours[6] (d

Here's another quote from the article: > The cartel lowered operational costs and worked to standardize the life expectancy of light bulbs at 1,000 hours[6] (down from 2,500 hours),[6] and raised prices without fear of competition. The cartel tested their bulbs and fined manufacturers for bulbs that lasted more than 1,000 hours. The simple fact that they explicitly set a lower operational life target rather than setting a minimum target tells me everything I need to know about what they were trying to do. The additional fact that they fined manufacturers who exceeded the target doesn't leave much room for speculation. If they had any interest whatsoever in efficiency as the driver, the targets would have been based on an efficiency target like lumens per watt rather than life expectancy.