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Platform regulation — ex-ante versus ex-post intervention: evolving our antitrust tools and practices to meet the challenges

By  |  March 21, 2016

Alex Chisholm & Nelson Jung, March 20, 2016

The rapid change in the economic environment, in particular the growth of the digital economy, poses challenges for competition authorities and policymakers alike: what are the key considerations that should inform the approach to intervention in such a fast moving sector?

Joseph Schumpeter showed that great historical waves of technological innovation clump together — canals, steam, steel and electricity, mass production and now — though he died too early to see it himself – Information Technology. In each epoch, the rules of the economy tend to be best adapted to the wave that has passed, not the wave that is breaking. It is the breaking wave that will bring with it tremendous new benefits to humanity, even if the merits of specific innovations and consumer behavior are often difficult to predict.

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