GAI Releases 2020 Report on the Digital Economy

The Global Antitrust Institute (GAI) has released its 2020 Report on the Digital Economy, a balanced perspective—grounded in economic analysis and empirical evidence—on a wide variety of contemporary issues in antitrust law and economics. To this end, we have relied upon generous intellectual contributions from some of the most influential economists, legal scholars, and practitioners across the global antitrust community.

The Report features 34 chapters broken down over three sections. Section I explains the foundational economic concepts and legal principles that apply to the digital economy. Section II gives an overview of the state of competition in digital markets, current antitrust enforcement efforts, competition, concentration, and the role of government in the competitive process. Section III analyzes contemporary proposals to overhaul the antitrust laws and offers evidence-based proposals for how to improve antitrust institutions to promote competition in the digital economy.

This project was led by the GAI team, and includes contributions from Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, Former Director of the FTC Bureau of Economics Bruce H. Kobayashi, Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Tad Lipsky, and GAI’s Director of Economic Education John M. Yun.

The Report also features contributions from some of the most influential economists, legal scholars, and practitioners across the global antitrust community. External contributions include chapters from: Richard Epstein on the relationship between the patent and antitrust laws, Dan O’Brien on the economics of vertical restraints, Elyse Dorsey on the consumer welfare standard, Geoffrey Manne on error costs, Thom Lambert on rent-seeking and public choice theory, Jan Rybnicek on innovation in the U.S. and Europe, Catherine Tucker on competition in the digital advertising market, Neil Chilson on the question of whether big tech needs its own regulator, Babette Boliek on competition policy and 5G, Ai Deng on algorithmic collusion and algorithmic compliance, Maureen Ohlhausen on occupational licensing, James Cooper on the intersection of antitrust and privacy, and Tim Muris and Joseph Coniglio on predation in digital markets. Other contributors include: Michael Baye, Giuseppe Colangelo, Avinash Collis, Daniel Crane, Luke Froeb, Bernhard Ganglmair, Justin “Gus” Hurwitz, Ashkhen Kazaryan, Jonathan Klick, Aurelien Portuese, Jeffrey Prince, Michael Salinger, Kristian Stout, Berin Szóka, Joanna Tsai, Steven Tschantz, Greg Werden, and Christopher Yoo.