BCCP Conference and Policy Forum 2017

The tremendous growth of digital transactions – mainly through online platforms – has profoundly affected the way we interact and has opened vast opportunities to improve our lives. The disruptive impact of this process is driven by one core feature: its ability to reduce inefficiencies. 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. Who reaps the largest benefits and profits in super-efficient online markets? Consumers? Innovative firms? Incumbent firms? This conference aims to tackle these questions and discuss the need for and appropriateness of policy interventions in such quickly evolving markets. We especially will focus on regulatory issues related to the development of sharing economy platforms and the increased use of algorithms.