Competition in Digital Markets: A Review of Expert Reports

Lancieri, Filippo Maria; Sakowski, Patricia A. M.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3681322

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Some of these effects accrue to the use of digital technologies, which entail a reduction of search costs, replication costs, transportation costs, tracking costs and verification costs (Goldfarb & Tucker, 2019), although the effects are mediated by the individual's personal characteristics (Castellacci & Tveito, 2018). Digital markets are at the forefront of competition policy and, in the last few years, antitrust authorities around the world have opened many investigations on digital platforms and issued or commissioned dozens of studies or expert reports that are focused on understanding the general competitive dynamics of markets such as online search, social media, e‐commerce/marketplaces, and mobile operating systems (see Lancieri & Sakowski, 2021, for a survey). Despite its relevance, the goal of this Section is to focus on how the implementation of artificial intelligence and ML‐based algorithms could affect market mechanisms and outcomes.…”

Section: Ai Markets and Competitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial intelligence, firms and consumer behavior: A survey

Abrardi

Cambini

Rondi

2021

Journal of Economic Surveys

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The current advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are likely to have profound economic implications and bring about new trade-offs, thereby posing new challenges from a policymaking point of view. What is the impact of these technologies on the labor market and firms? Will algorithms reduce consumers' biases or will they rather originate new ones? How competition will be affected by AI-powered agents? This study is a first attempt to survey the growing literature on the multi-faceted economic effects of the recent technological advances in AI that involve machine learning applications. We first review research on the implications of AI on firms, focusing on its impact on labor market, productivity, skill composition and innovation. Then we examine how AI contributes to shaping consumer behavior and market competition. We conclude by discussing how public policies can deal with the radical changes that AI is already producing and is going to generate in the future for firms and consumers.

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Section: Ai Markets and Competitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial intelligence, firms and consumer behavior: A survey

Abrardi

Cambini

Rondi

2021

Journal of Economic Surveys

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“…The dominant positions of data intermediaries in the digital markets have raised policymakers' concerns on whether and how to intervene, bringing data intermediaries to the forefront of competition policy. Antitrust authorities have thus opened many investigations and requested various reports on data brokers and attention platforms to better assess the underlying market dynamics and their perils (for a survey, see Lancieri & Sakowski 2021). One of the main problems in these analyses is the zero-price nature of attention platforms toward consumers: this feature disables many instruments of antitrust analysis, such as the SSNIP test, that rely on pricing dynamics (Newman, 2020).…”

Section: Discussion and Existing Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

The microeconomics of data – a survey

Pino

2022

J. Ind. Bus. Econ.

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In recent years, academia, institutions, and policymakers have been focusing their attention on the impact of data in digital markets. The economic literature that explicitly models data and their collection as strategic variables is growing, but most studies focus on distinct settings with specific data uses. This survey aims to organise this literature to extract general insights that hold across different models and assumptions. To do so, I identify three classes of models according to the way they model data collection. I find that each class is characterised by a specific impact of data on the market outcomes, regardless of the specific data use. First, when firms obtain data without strategic interactions, their use has a pro-competitive effect on the market. However, firms fail to fully internalise the data externalities, leading to data overuse and, in turn, privacy concerns. Second, when firms collect data from their interaction with consumers, data can facilitate market tipping, especially if firms are asymmetric in their starting positions. Third, when firms acquire data from data intermediaries, data are strategically sold to temper competition in the downstream market, allowing intermediaries to extract most of the surplus at the expense of firms and consumers. These general insights can facilitate future research and help policymakers to have a more general understanding of the competitive effects of data, depending on the situation at hand.

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“…A growing number of international platform inquiries attempts to articulate the policy concerns and navigate the problems of policy fragmentation and overlap (Puppis & Winseck, 2021). Early assessments note that these inquiries focus on data and privacy issues, content concerns and, predominantly, competition problems (Flew & Su, 2021; Lancieri & Sakowski, 2020). Despite some divergences, the most common solutions involve merger review reform and imposing data portability and interoperability (Lancieri & Sakowski, 2020).…”

Section: Policy Fragmentation and Overlapmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Early assessments note that these inquiries focus on data and privacy issues, content concerns and, predominantly, competition problems (Flew & Su, 2021; Lancieri & Sakowski, 2020). Despite some divergences, the most common solutions involve merger review reform and imposing data portability and interoperability (Lancieri & Sakowski, 2020). When policy concerns transcend the tech sector, “relating to wider issues surrounding a data‐driven economy and society” (Flew & Su, 2021, p. 21), the reports often propose a new regulatory agency.…”

Section: Policy Fragmentation and Overlapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulating datafication and platformization: Policy silos and tradeoffs in international platform inquiries

Popiel

2022

Policy & Internet

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A key concern in international policy debates about articulating oversight of digital platform markets involves policy silos, arising from the scope of platformization and datafication, and the challenges in defining their policy boundaries and coordinating a comprehensive policy response. This article examines how policymakers grapple with the problem by looking at a growing number of expert inquiries on digital platforms—a proxy for the international policy debate—that focus on policy problems ranging from market dominance and privacy risks to the spread of disinformation. Specifically, the article develops a schema of related policy silos and tradeoffs that arise in these debates: (1) policy area silos, (2) market/sectoral silos, (3) temporal silos, and (4) normative tradeoffs. Then, it critically examines the implications of these silos and tradeoffs for policy interventions aimed at addressing concerns related to datafication and platformization, raising key questions about the scope of and assumptions underlying platform regulation internationally and noting the way they constrain policy design and thwart more holistic policy solutions.

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Competition in Digital Markets: A Review of Expert Reports

Cited by 13 publications

References 52 publications

Artificial intelligence, firms and consumer behavior: A survey

Artificial intelligence, firms and consumer behavior: A survey

The microeconomics of data – a survey

Regulating datafication and platformization: Policy silos and tradeoffs in international platform inquiries

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