The situation: The rise of large tech firms has led to growing worries about (abuse of) market power and monopolies in the digital economy, and a call for increased antitrust action. In October 2020, the U.S. congress published a report calling for the break-up of big tech monopolies comparing the current situation to the age of the infamous “robber barons”. Your writing assignment: Your paper should contain several elements (not necessarily in this order). Provide some background and data about developments in the digital economy. Explain why market power and monopolies are likely to emerge in the digital economy. Explain why we care about monopolies in the digital economy and what can be done to address potential problems. Suggested resources: There is a wealth of information on the digital economy, monopoly, and antitrust. We expect you to consult at least five academic references additional to those provided below and of which at least three must be academic journal articles. You may consult more. Academic journal articles may include research articles and similar studies produced by research institutes and university economics departments. They do not include newspaper articles. A good starting point into the topic is: Lamoreaux, N.R. (2019). The Problem of Bigness: From Standard Oil to Google. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33, 3:94-117 This article in the Washington Post gives a quick overview: The following paper also contains a section on Antitrust and the Tech Titans: Shapiro, C. (2019). Protecting Competition in the American Economy: Merger Control, Tech Titans, Labor Markets. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33, 3:69-93 There is also an entire issue (in press) of the Journal Information Economics, and Policy on the topic of “Antitrust in the Digital Economy”. The report by the U.S. congress can be found here: The results of similar investigations for the U.K. and the EU can be found here: (UK) (EU)
