Technology

How IT Affects Firm Size, Market Concentration, and the Labor Share

Does investing in information technology (IT) enable firms to “scale without mass” and increase their market share? In a new paper, Erik Brynjolfsson, Wang Jin, and Xiupeng Wang examine how IT affects firm size, market concentration, and the labor share of revenue.

Children of Workers Impacted by Automation Are More Likely To Experience Lower Income Mobility

A new empirical study examines whether advancements in automation and robotics have affected intergenerational income mobility. The authors find that parents’ exposure...

The Digital Divide During Epidemics: Who Benefits From New Financial Technologies?

A new paper finds that exposure to an epidemic in the current year significantly increases the likelihood that an individual completes financial...

Four Key Takeaways from Thursday’s Antitrust Subcommittee Hearing

Held just before the House’s antitrust subcommittee is expected to release its long-anticipated report on digital platforms, Thursday's hearing yielded clues as...

The Qualcomm Case: Why Protecting American Tech Monopolies Is a Big Favor to China

The FTC sued the company that monopolized the market of components for cell phones with its aggressive patent policy. However, in the technological race...

A Tale of Hubris and Excess: How Uber Fooled Portland Regulators

In an excerpt from his new book "Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber," New York Times reporter Mike Isaac reveals the details of Uber's...

If You Don’t Think Today’s Tech Giants Are Vicious, Just Ask Venture Capitalists

Silicon Valley today resembles the deepest part of the jungle known as the triple canopy, where tall trees block out all the light and...

Is China’s International Joint Venture Policy Effective in Diffusing Technology?

The US administration launched a trade war against China in response to what it sees as unfair trade practices—especially the requirement that foreign firms...

The Motives of “Joiners” Explain Higher Rates of Innovation in Startup Firms

It’s not just the founders of startups who boast an entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to take risks. Those who join new ventures show...

The Stigler Center Dedicates Second Annual Antitrust and Competition Conference to Digital Platforms and Concentration

The invitation-only conference will bring together economists, law scholars, intellectuals, venture capitalists, and businesspeople to debate how to promote competition in a world of...

LATEST NEWS

Tim Wu Responds to Letter by Former Agency Chief Economists

Former special assistant to the president for technology and competition policy Tim Wu responds to the November 27 letter signed by former chief economists at the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department Antitrust Division calling for a separation of the legal and economic analysis in the draft Merger Guidelines.

Can the Public Moderate Social Media?

ProMarket student editor Surya Gowda reviews the arguments made by Paul Gowder in his new book, The Networked Leviathan: For Democratic Platforms.

Uninhibited Campaign Donations Risks Creating Oligarchy

In new research, Valentino Larcinese and Alberto Parmigiani find that the 1986 Reagan tax cuts led to greater campaign spending from wealthy individuals, who benefited the most from this policy. The authors argue that a very permissive system of political finance, combined with the erosion of tax progressivity, created the conditions for the mutual reinforcement of economic and political disparities. The result was an inequality spiral hardly compatible with democratic ideals.

Did the Meme Stock Revolution Actually Change Anything?

Many financial commentators thought that the surge of retail investors participating in the stock market, the most notable of whom boosted “meme stocks” like GameStop, would democratize corporate governance and improve prosocial firm behavior, including the promotion of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. In new research, Dhruv Aggarwal, Albert H. Choi, and Yoon-Ho Alex Lee find evidence that the exact opposite took place.

The Kroger-Albertsons Merger Will Not Help Grocery Competition

Kroger and Albertsons say they need to merge to compete with Walmart. Claire Kelloway argues that what they really want is Walmart’s monopsony power, and permitting mergers on these grounds will only harm suppliers, workers, and consumers.