Competition and Regulation in the Digital Platforms

This course addresses the interplay between competition and regulation in the digital markets. The challenge of measuring market power and competition in digital markets has key policy implications. This course offers a comparative and inter-disciplinary perspective on regulating the platform economy. In sessions 1 & 2, we discuss basic inter-disciplinary principles of economics and corporate strategy that guide our discussion on the legislative measures in digital markets. In sessions 3-6, we discuss the most recent legislative solutions in the European Union, namely, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and briefly discuss its interplay with Digital Services Act and the Data Act. We discuss the criteria for classification under the DMA, the list and obligations of recently qualified gatekeepers, and the current/pending appeals on the classification of TikTok and Meta as gatekeepers. Sessions 7-9 shall respectively offer a comparative perspective from the US, Asia and Latin American scholars (by visiting scholars, online, or in-person, as possible). Session10: Q&A and Participants shall make class presentation.