Economics of Emergent Markets Platform Markets, Data Markets and Market for Ideas

It is important to understand why a separate chapter on economics of platform marketsPlatform markets, data marketsData markets and market for ideasMarket for ideas is required. Introduction to these different markets was made in Chapter 1 . In the previous chapter, the basic tools of economicTools of economics analysis consisting of price, cost and quantityPrice, cost, quantity used by competitionCompetition authorities in their assessment of anti-competitive activities were previewed in the framework of the product marketProduct market. In this chapter, I show how price, cost and quantityPrice, cost, quantity in platform marketsPlatform markets, data marketsData markets and markets for ideas suggest a new perspective on competitionCompetition. The economics of each of these markets make it imperative for competitionCompetition authorities to appreciate their distinct features while assessing for anti-competitive behavior. These three markets are interrelated and yet retain their own characteristics. Platform marketsPlatform markets of online and of AIArtificial intelligence (AI), algorithmsAlgorithms and Robo-sellingRobo-selling brought in their wake the other two markets and with it a vibrant debate on antitrust approaches raising the question whither competitionCompetition. Algorithmic collusionAlgorithmic collusion, personalized pricingPersonalized pricing, zero pricing considered anti-competitive in traditional market economics represent dynamics of online markets where emphasis is on consumers gains. Institutions associated with data marketData markets and market for ideasMarket for ideas have in my opinion till recently received minimal attention in competitionCompetition literature. Growing e-commerce of the popular spread of shopping online through apps on smartphones is phenomenal in India. Growing e-commerce with allegations from offline traders of discriminatory pricingDiscriminatory pricing, discountsDiscounts, biased contractsContract are current debates of antitrust abusesAbuses in these three markets. This chapter raises these currents debates.