Big Tech: Monopolies, Corruption, & Philosophy

I look at the potential problems of Big Tech monopolies from the point of view of corruption. Learning lessons from big monopolies of the past - the Catholic Church and the Soviet Union, in particular - I argue that corruption is always likely when there's a lack of competition. What are the economic and philosophic problems with monopolies? I look at price signals, transparency, returns to scale, deep sunk costs, and the infrastructure perspective. Should we fear Facebook, Google, and Amazon? Should we regulate?

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Credits:

Stock footage provided by Videvo, downloaded from

Sources:

Tom Standage, Writing on the Wall: Social Media, the first 2000 Years.

Orudzheva, L., Salimath, M.S. & Pavur, R. J Bus Ethics (2018).

Ryvkin, Dmitry and Serra, Danila, The Industrial Organization of CorruptionMonopoly, Competition and Collusion (February 10, 2017). Available at SSRNor

Dimant, E. and Tosato, G. (2018), CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION: WHAT HAS PAST DECADE'S EMPIRICAL RESEARCH TAUGHT US? A SURVEY. Journal of Economic Surveys, 32: 335-356. doi:10.1111/joes.12198

Rahman, K. Sabeel, Regulating Informational InfrastructureInternet Platforms as the New Public Utilities (February 23, 2018). Georgetown Law and Technology Review, Vol. 22 (2018). Available at SSRN