Advanced Introduction to Platform Economics
By Robin Mansell and W. Edward Steinmueller
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.
Contents
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Digital platform origins and novelty
3. Economic analysis of platforms
4. Technologies and datafication practices
5. Self-regulation and alternative business models
6. Policy, regulation and alternative platform provision
7. Global perspectives
8. Conclusion
References
Index
Robin Mansell is Professor of New Media and the Internet in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and former president of IAMCR.
W. Edward Steinmueller is Professor of the Economics of Innovation at the University of Sussex, UK.
The above text is from the seller's description of the book.
Title: Advanced Introduction to Platform Economics
Authors: Robin Mansell and W. Edward Steinmueller
Published: 2020
Pages: 176
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing