Ariel Ezrachi is Slaughter and May Professor of Competition Law at the University of Oxford. Maurice E. Stucke is Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee and co-founder of The Konkurrenz Group.
[Ezrachi and Stucke] make a convincing argument that there can be a
darker side to the growth of digital commerce. The replacement of
the invisible hand of competition by the digitized hand of internet
commerce can give rise to anticompetitive behavior that the
competition authorities are ill equipped to deal with…Virtual
Competition displays a deep understanding of the internet world and
is outstandingly researched.
*Wall Street Journal*
Traditional competition law is about firms and their activities.
The great insight underpinning Ezrachi’s and Stucke’s book is that,
in a digital world, competition law will be mostly about algorithms
and big data because these are the forces that now determine what
happens in online marketplaces. The book focuses on three
particular areas in which anticompetitive and manipulative behavior
is possible and, in some cases, already evident… Ezrachi and Stucke
dig deep into the ways in which algorithmic and big-data analytics
combine to produce behaviors and outcomes that are—or could
be—troubling for society. They then go on to discuss the extent to
which existing competition law and legal precedents may—or may
not—be able to address abuses… Ezrachi and Stucke have made a
convincing case for the need to rethink competition law to cope
with algorithmic capitalism’s potential for malfeasance.
*The Observer*
We owe the authors our deep gratitude for anticipating and
explaining the consequences of living in a world in which black
boxes collude and leave no trails behind. They make it clear that
in a world of big data and algorithmic pricing, consumers are
outgunned and antitrust laws are outdated, especially in the United
States…We can hope the ideas discussed in Virtual Competition get
on the political agenda.
*Science*
A fascinating book about how platform internet companies (Amazon,
Facebook, and so on) are changing the norms of economic
competition. Virtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the
Algorithm-Driven Economy argues that these companies, with their
immense data advantage, are effectively making their own rules in
the marketplace, beating back new market entrants, and
disadvantaging customers.
*Fast Company*
From price-comparison algorithms to phone operating systems,
technology has altered competitive commerce. Lawyers Ariel Ezrachi
and Maurice E. Stucke question the democratic consequences of this
dual-edged power.
*Nature*
This highly readable and authoritative account sets out the ways
that platforms have replaced the invisible hand with a digitized
one—a hand that is human-engineered, subject to corporate control
and manipulation, and prone to charges of unlawfulness…It is
becoming increasingly apparent that widespread deployment of
algorithmic tools can intensify, rather than reduce, the chasm
between the wealthy and the vulnerable. This is the issue Ezrachi
and Stucke address as behavioral discrimination…Overall, they
argue, this is corrosive to social welfare, because the more
vulnerable among us end up paying more. The authors’ assessment of
where this is heading is of the most sober kind: absent legal
intervention, perfect discrimination will likely become the new
norm.
*Times Higher Education*
This is a groundbreaking, critical work—a major contribution to the
field of competition law.
*Frank Pasquale, author of The Black Box Society*
Ezrachi and Stucke provide a compelling analysis challenging the
orthodoxy that modern technology empowers consumers. Their findings
will send a shiver down the spine of consumers, businesses, public
policy makers and anyone working in the competition field. Virtual
Competition is a fast-paced, mind-boggling thriller that you can’t
put down; a thriller in which we are all set to be the victim.
*Alan Giles, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford*
Virtual Competition provides an intriguing and provocative look at
the potential dark side of big data and big analytics. The debate
over digital competition is just beginning, and Ezrachi and Stucke
have laid down a marker that is likely to capture wide
attention.
*Jonathan Levin, Stanford Graduate School of Business*
Ezrachi and Stucke’s insights into data-driven opportunities,
collusion scenarios, discrimination, and ‘frenemies’ will help
authorities distinguish between true efficiencies and
anti-competitive problems, and ensure that most enforcement at
least keeps up with technological developments. Forward-thinking
competition authorities can use these insights proactively to help
craft government policies that ensure that innovation and
competition are real, while problems are addressed quickly and
thus—hopefully—remain virtual.
*Philip Marsden, Inquiry Chair, Competition and Markets
Authority*
A thought-provoking, clearly written examination of the coming
effects on markets and competition of computer algorithms, big
data, big analytics, and ‘super-platforms,’ drawing on real-life
examples, on neoclassical and behavioral economics, and on the
authors’ deep understanding of U.S. and EU competition law.
*Harry First, New York University School of Law*
Equal measures computer science, law, economics, and behavioral
science, this book will appeal to all four groups and introduce the
concepts in a very enjoyable way. Whether people shop online, on
their phones, or in stores, companies track them. What they buy,
where they shop, when they shop, and how they shop can all be
analyzed by retailers, who can then offer different products,
coupons, and discounts. Retailers not only collect and analyze this
data but also sell the data and analysis to other companies,
sometimes including their competitors. This book delves into the
privacy and regulatory complications of this data and analysis.
Though readers may be taken aback by just how much information is
collected about their shopping habits, this book describes in
detail how retailers and marketers use ambivalence to privacy to
market products and services at prices consumers are willing to
pay.
*Choice*
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