big tech
Antitrust Needs Better Models for Estimating Social Welfare in the Digital Age
In a forthcoming article, Seth Benzell and Felix Chang explore how antitrust regulators can use insights from a new quantitative model of Facebook that...
Self-Preferencing Theories Need To Account for Exploitative Abuse
Patrice Bougette, Oliver Budzinski, and Frédéric Marty argue in their research that antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic must take into consideration...
Startup Acquisitions Have Undecided Effects on Innovation and Economic Growth
Startups are a major driver of innovation, but many startups are acquired by large incumbents. Do these acquisitions stifle innovation or promote it? While...
User Hesitancy Increases Online Platforms’ Incumbency Advantage
“Incumbency advantage” among Big Tech platforms recognizes that network effects prevent users from leaving established platforms for emerging competitors. Gary Biglaiser, Jacques Crémer, and...
Event Notes: “China’s Political Economy” in Review
The Stigler Center's "China Political Economy" webinar series returns Thursday, February 9. Here's a reminder of what we covered in our first four panels...
Too Many Economists Are Using a Flawed Theory To Defend Dominant Platforms’ Self-Preferencing Practices
Congress is currently considering two major bills that would regulate “self-preferencing” and related conduct by dominant digital platforms. Criticism of these bills is heavily...
Why Streaming Doesn’t Pay
An excerpt from a new book, Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back,...
How to Converge the US and European Antitrust Approaches Toward Big Tech
The growing consensus that Big Tech platforms need to be restrained creates a unique opportunity for international cooperation among antitrust enforcers. The complexity of...
How to Design Data Protection Laws That Actually Work
More and more countries are passing data protection laws, yet empirical studies show that these laws rarely deliver on their promises. A new paper...
Big Tech ‘Self-Preferencing’ Bills May Hurt—Not Help— Antitrust Reform
A new paper from Erik Hovenkamp outlines pitfalls contained in newly proposed antitrust reform legislation that targets Big Tech companies. He proposes remedies and...
