BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2019

The tremendous growth of digital transactions –mainly through online platforms— has profoundly affected the way we interact, opening vast opportunities to improve our lives. Consumers have benefited from an unprecedented proliferation of new services and products that previously were simply too costly to be developed and marketed to customers. At the same time, network effects in platform business models have brought market power concerns back to the front stage.

This year’s conference focusses on the rise of corporate power with an emphasis on digital markets. A remarkable body of economic research reports the global rise of mark-ups across many markets and industries. The measurement of market power, the role of competition policy, and the potential need for regulatory intervention are core issues in the current academic and policy discussion. These issues are particularly challenging in multi-sided digital platform industries with large players like Amazon, Facebook, and Google, which are also under suspicion of increasing political power and influence. This conference brings together leading academics and policy makers to discuss the road ahead for improving institutions and markets to curb corporate power for the good of society.