BRIE Working Paper 2021-2 #1 BACKGROUND PAPER FOR “WORK IN THE DIGITAL AGE: THE CHALLENGE OF

Two of the key complaints of the report are the abuse of market dominance, leading to a preference for their own products, and the acquisition of competitors, to control the market. [...] In the following, we sketch the fundamentals of the digital economy and the significance of big tech and platforms for the study of the political economy of industrialized countries. [...] The contestation between the business behaviour of big tech firms and regulators is at the heart of the institutionalization of the digital economy and has far-reaching consequences. [...] Examples are the role of Amazon Marketplace in the retail sector and more specifically in the health and pharmacy sector, the role of Facebook for the media industry, and Google’s services in schools. [...] As the examples in the introduction show, we can now see the evolution of regulation in key areas of the digital economy, as regulators in the US and Europe try to come to terms with the challenges of the tech industry.