Advanced Introduction to Platform Economics
Elgar Advanced Introductions series
Robin Mansell, Professor Emerita, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science and W. Edward Steinmueller, R.M. Philips Professor of the Economics of Innovation, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, UK
Publication Date: 2020 ISBN: 978 1 78990 062 0 Extent: 176 pp
Artificial intelligence-enabled digital platforms collect and process data from and about users. These companies are largely self-regulating in Western countries. How do economic theories explain the rise of a very few dominant platforms? Mansell and Steinmueller compare and contrast neoclassical, institutional and critical political economy explanations. They show how these perspectives can lead to contrasting claims about platform benefits and harms. Uneven power relationships between platform operators and their users are treated differently in these economic traditions. Sometimes leading to advocacy for regulation or for public provision of digital services. Sometimes indicating restraint and precaution. The authors challenge the reader to think beyond the inevitability of platform dominance to create new visions of how platforms might operate in the future.