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Virtual Competition : The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm-Driven Economy / Ariel Ezrachi.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2017]Copyright date: ©2016Description: 1 online resource (300 p.) : 3 halftones, 3 graphsContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780674973336
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 381/.142 23
LOC classification:
  • HF5548.32 .E996 2016
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Part I. Setting the Scene -- 1. The Promise of a Better Competitive Environment -- 2. New Economic Reality: Th e Rise of Big Data and Big Analytics -- 3. Light Touch Antitrust -- 4. Looking beyond the Façade of Competition -- Part II. The Collusion Scenarios -- 5. The Messenger Scenario -- 6. Hub and Spoke -- 7. Tacit Collusion on Ste roids: The Predictable Agent -- 8. Artificial Intelligence, God View, and the Digital Eye -- Part III. Behavioral Discrimination -- 9. Price Discrimination (Briefly) Explained -- 10. The Age of Perfect Price Discrimination? -- 11. The Rise of “Almost Perfect” Behavioral Discrimination -- 12. Behavioral Discrimination: Economic and Social Perspectives -- 13. The Comparison Intermediaries -- Part IV. Frenemies -- 14. The Dynamic Interplay among Frenemies -- 15. Extraction and Capture -- 16. “Why Invite an Arsonist to Your Home?” Understanding the Frenemy Mentality -- 17. The Future of Frenemy: Th e Rise of Personal Assistants -- Part V. Intervention -- 18. To Regulate or Not to Regulate -- 19. The Enforcement Toolbox -- Final Reflections -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index
Summary: Shoppers with Internet access and a bargain-hunting impulse can find a universe of products at their fingertips. In this thought-provoking exposé, Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice Stucke invite us to take a harder look at today’s app-assisted paradise of digital shopping. While consumers reap many benefits from online purchasing, the sophisticated algorithms and data-crunching that make browsing so convenient are also changing the nature of market competition, and not always for the better. Computers colluding is one danger. Although long-standing laws prevent companies from fixing prices, data-driven algorithms can now quickly monitor competitors’ prices and adjust their own prices accordingly. So what is seemingly beneficial—increased price transparency—ironically can end up harming consumers. A second danger is behavioral discrimination. Here, companies track and profile consumers to get them to buy goods at the highest price they are willing to pay. The rise of super-platforms and their “frenemy” relationship with independent app developers raises a third danger. By controlling key platforms (such as the operating system of smartphones), data-driven monopolies dictate the flow of personal data and determine who gets to exploit potential buyers. Virtual Competition raises timely questions. To what extent does the “invisible hand” still hold sway? In markets continually manipulated by bots and algorithms, is competitive pricing an illusion? Can our current laws protect consumers? The changing market reality is already shifting power into the hands of the few. Ezrachi and Stucke explore the resulting risks to competition, our democratic ideals, and our economic and overall well-being.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9780674973336

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Part I. Setting the Scene -- 1. The Promise of a Better Competitive Environment -- 2. New Economic Reality: Th e Rise of Big Data and Big Analytics -- 3. Light Touch Antitrust -- 4. Looking beyond the Façade of Competition -- Part II. The Collusion Scenarios -- 5. The Messenger Scenario -- 6. Hub and Spoke -- 7. Tacit Collusion on Ste roids: The Predictable Agent -- 8. Artificial Intelligence, God View, and the Digital Eye -- Part III. Behavioral Discrimination -- 9. Price Discrimination (Briefly) Explained -- 10. The Age of Perfect Price Discrimination? -- 11. The Rise of “Almost Perfect” Behavioral Discrimination -- 12. Behavioral Discrimination: Economic and Social Perspectives -- 13. The Comparison Intermediaries -- Part IV. Frenemies -- 14. The Dynamic Interplay among Frenemies -- 15. Extraction and Capture -- 16. “Why Invite an Arsonist to Your Home?” Understanding the Frenemy Mentality -- 17. The Future of Frenemy: Th e Rise of Personal Assistants -- Part V. Intervention -- 18. To Regulate or Not to Regulate -- 19. The Enforcement Toolbox -- Final Reflections -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Shoppers with Internet access and a bargain-hunting impulse can find a universe of products at their fingertips. In this thought-provoking exposé, Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice Stucke invite us to take a harder look at today’s app-assisted paradise of digital shopping. While consumers reap many benefits from online purchasing, the sophisticated algorithms and data-crunching that make browsing so convenient are also changing the nature of market competition, and not always for the better. Computers colluding is one danger. Although long-standing laws prevent companies from fixing prices, data-driven algorithms can now quickly monitor competitors’ prices and adjust their own prices accordingly. So what is seemingly beneficial—increased price transparency—ironically can end up harming consumers. A second danger is behavioral discrimination. Here, companies track and profile consumers to get them to buy goods at the highest price they are willing to pay. The rise of super-platforms and their “frenemy” relationship with independent app developers raises a third danger. By controlling key platforms (such as the operating system of smartphones), data-driven monopolies dictate the flow of personal data and determine who gets to exploit potential buyers. Virtual Competition raises timely questions. To what extent does the “invisible hand” still hold sway? In markets continually manipulated by bots and algorithms, is competitive pricing an illusion? Can our current laws protect consumers? The changing market reality is already shifting power into the hands of the few. Ezrachi and Stucke explore the resulting risks to competition, our democratic ideals, and our economic and overall well-being.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Aug 2021)