Dear Readers, Online platforms remain an ever growing hot topic within the antitrust community around the world. The rapid expansion of online platforms, such as ride hailing or accommodation sharing applications, has given rise to concerns from competition authorities and policymakers. This month’s CPI Antitrust Chronicle focuses on the latest developments in the intersection of […]
Interview with Massimo Motta – ICREA Research Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics Research Professor and former Chief Competition Economist at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition.
By Henri Piffaut – In the past few months, the idea of regulating platforms has shifted from extreme to mainstream and initiatives are under way in a number of jurisdictions for various public policy objectives. This paper sets out some key elements to take into account when deciding to regulate platforms. It discusses first what […]
By Eliana Garcés – There has been a growing attention to the role that data and data analytics are playing in the online world. The current public debate is assimilating the collection of massive amounts of data by large online platforms to extraordinary clout on the public and almost unassailable dominance among economic actors. The […]
By John M. Newman – The ECJ’s recent move to classify Uber as a transportation-services company attracted international headlines — yet it was a fairly straightforward, common-sense decision. What, then, made it so remarkable? It was one of the first high-level rejections of Silicon Valley Rhetoric. Tech giants are unrivaled in their ability to disguise […]
By Margherita Colangelo & Mariateresa Maggiolino – Uber is the most emblematic example of platforms that are challenging legislators, regulators and courts all over the world. Its advent has been a disruptive element in the taxi industry, showing how technological advances have created new ways to operate carriage of persons services and bringing the operation […]
By Nick Passaro – Uber has been the subject of numerous lawsuits in the last ten years, spanning several areas of law. However, even within the narrower focus of antitrust claims, the allegations have varied in both jurisdiction and theory of harm. Despite the number and diversity of antitrust claims against Uber, not one has […]
By Marshall Steinbaum – Labor platforms like Uber have mostly escaped antitrust scrutiny, despite the apparent legal risk that, by coordinating pricing among tens of thousands of “independent contractors,” they might run afoul of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. On the other hand, the enforcement agencies have indicated that collective bargaining by those contractors […]
By Wei Han & Yajie Gao – How to coordinate open access to, and protection of, data is the basic issue for the modern digital economy. In order to predict the future development of anti-monopoly enforcement in China’s digital economy, we must take full consideration of China’s current legal system, and relevant legislative and enforcement […]
Dear Readers, I was pleased to be asked to guest edit the April 2018 Antitrust Chronicle on Hipster Antitrust. The consumer welfare standard in antitrust is an important part of antitrust law and practice in the United States, but an increasing number of policy thinkers are starting to question whether it should maintain its primacy. […]