Question

Growth of Digital Economy –
A Challenge for Competition Regulators

Answer 1

Competition in major digital markets is different in some ways from competition in more traditional markets.  This sector often includes platform-based business models, multi-sided markets, network effects and economies of scale which render competition issues more complex. Unlike in most economic sectors, as the digital economy becomes increasingly interconnected some co-ordination and co-operation between firms could be unavoidable, and may indeed be pro-competitive. Finally, digital markets are characterised by high rates of investment and innovation, which lead to rapid technological progress in the sector, and to increased disruptive innovation.

The increasing prominence of the digital economy has been requiring competition authorities to devote more and more of their time to intellectual property-intensive and high technology industries. Since the impact of the digital sector extends beyond information goods and services to other areas of the economy, competition authorities are finding questions related to the digital economy to be increasingly significant for their work. ‌

OECD work on innovation and competition

The OECD Competition Committee first held a roundtable discussion on merger review in emerging high innovation markets in 2002. Since then, the OECD has held discussions on wide variety of related topics ranging from competition, patents and innovation (2006 and 2009); to two sided-markets (2009), the digital economy (2012); on disruptive innovation (in general as well as in legal services, financial markets and road transport); and, more recently, on big data (2016). In June 2017, more discussion topics include Algorithms and collusion, Radical Innovation in the Electricity Sector and Rethinking the use of traditional antitrust enforcement tools in multi-sided markets.

Future work

In 2016, the digital economy and innovation was selected as a long-term theme for discussions at the OECD Competition Committee. As a result, the Competition Committee  has started to hold roundtables, hearings and other events on five main streams: 

1. The relationship between the digital economy, competition law and innovation

This stream will analyse the role of competition law in shaping the digital economy, the evolving role for competition authorities in the digital world, and explore further work on multi-sided markets.

2. Challenges posed to prevailing antitrust tools and approaches

This stream will look at the suitability of existing antitrust tools and techniques for dealing with the digital economy and innovative disruption, at anticompetitive practices identified in the digital economy, at platforms becoming self-sustaining ecosystems and/or sealing themselves off from the rest of the Internet, at how to treat mergers in digital markets, and into the identification of appropriate remedies in digital and innovation-intensive sectors.

3. Practical challenges to competition enforcement

Topics will include the timing of intervention in digital and innovation-intensive markets, and the increased need for international co-operation and co-ordination in the digital economy.

4. Detailed industries and sectors

Under this stream, we propose  not only to look at specific industries or sectors being disrupted or affected by digital economy (such as transportation, online advertising, search engines, online software platforms or E-commerce), but also to carry out case studies to analyse the development and evolution of a number of technological sectors in the past.  

5. Review of regulations

This stream will consider how governments should review and revise existing regulations to avoid undue harm to competition, entrepreneurship and innovation while ensuring government policy objectives are met.

Answer 2

digital gadgets and such things was being revolutionary. IT(information technology) has been contributed a lot to any country's economy. aim such countries are China, Japan, USA, India etc..... it has given large opportunities to people. the main advantage of digital way of earning is that it does'n't mainly depend upon anything else than "human brain". there are so many examples of countries whom the economic growth had became revolutionary only due to the digital ways.

countries like Japan, even though they don't have enough resources had mainly concentrated in one single thing, that is, human capital through technology.

in India., also IT technology had increased economic growth.

it also generates competition between persons as it mainly depends on brain.