Digital Platforms and Antitrust: Towards a More Techno-Economic Approach

Abstract

In recent years, technological advances have propelled platforms to centre stage and competition authorities increasingly deal with issues pertaining to their workings in ICT and other industries. A still partially unanswered question, though, is what is the theoretical framework that looks most promising when dealing with digital platforms from a competition policy perspective. Scholars in the tradition of industrial economics have developed a comprehensive theory of multi-sided markets. This paper argues, however, that the main theoretical framework for the study of platforms in the tradition of industrial economics can provide only a partial understanding of digital platforms. Interestingly, management scholars raise parallel reservations about analyzing technological platforms exclusively through the lens of the economics of two-sided markets. On the more positive side, this paper suggests that helpful insights on the inner workings of digital platforms can be drawn especially from recent research in the field of information systems.