Is Amazon The Next Google?

ORDO ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Budzinski ◽  
Karoline Henrike Köhler
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Competition Policy ◽  
Market Failure ◽  
Book Market ◽  
Economic Perspective ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Online Trading ◽  
Internet Platform ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Available Information

SummaryDominant or apparently dominant internet platform increasingly become subject to both antitrust investigations and further-reaching political calls for regulation. While Google is currently in the focus of the discussion, the next candidate is already on the horizon - the ubiquitous online trading platform Amazon. Competitors and suppliers but also famous economists like Paul Krugman unite in criticizing Amazon′s market power and alleged abuse of it. In this paper, we collect the multitude of allegations against Amazon and categorize them according to types of potential anticompetitive conduct or types of market failure. We provide an economic analysis of these allegations based upon economic theory as well as publicly available information and data. As one of our main results, we find that the most severe allegations against Amazon do not hold from an economic perspective and, consequently, do not warrant regulation or other drastic interventions (like breaking the company up). However, several areas of conduct, in particular, the use of best price clauses and the (anti-) competitive interplay of Amazon and the major publishers in the e-book market require competition policy action. The standard antitrust instruments, enriched with modern economic theory, should suffice to disincentivize the identified anticompetitive conduct for now.

Methodological Principles of Keynes’ Theory and His «Strife over Method» with Tinbergen

2007 ◽  
pp. 25-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Rozmainsky
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Critical View ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Methodological Principles

The author analyzes Keynes-Tinbergen controversy in the context of Keynes’ methodological ideas, which he thinks are fully opposite to the methodology of modern economic theory. Using different Keynes’ papers the author considers this difference in detail and shows its links to the critical view held by Keynes towards econometrics

Beyond GDP: The Quest for a Measure of Social Welfare. Part I

2012 ◽  
pp. 67-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fleurbaey
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Well Being ◽  
National Product ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Aggregate Wealth ◽  
Net National Product ◽  
Sustainability Policy ◽  
Beyond Gdp

The first part of the paper is devoted to the monetary indicators of social welfare. It is shown which methods of quantitative estimating the aggregate wealth and well-being are available in the modern economic theory apart from the traditional GDP measure. The limitations of the methods are also discussed. The author shows which measures of welfare are adequate in the dynamic context: he considers the problems of intertemporal welfare analysis using the Net National Product (NNP) for the sustainability policy and in the context of concern for well-being of the future generations.

Some Developments in Economic Theory Since 1940: An Eyewitness Account

2010 ◽  
pp. 4-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Arrow
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
General Equilibrium ◽  
Equilibrium Theory ◽  
General Equilibrium Theory ◽  
Economics Of Information ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Eyewitness Account ◽  
Theory Uncertainty ◽  
Professional Formation

The article considers the evolution of some branches of modern economic theory from the perspective of the authors biography as a scientist and his professional formation. It describes problems of econometrics, general equilibrium theory, uncertainty, economics of information, and growth. It is shown how different authors representing various fields came to similar conclusions simultaneously and independently, what were the problems, in response to which economists of the second half of last century developed their theories, and what were the contexts of such development.

Grosser Wert und wenig Geld? Über die Honorierung von Waldleistungen | Highly Valuable But Hardly Remunerative? On Compensating Forest Benefits

1999 ◽  
Vol 150 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Kissling-Näf
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Market Failure ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Economic Perspective ◽  
Financial Compensation

Forests provide people with a variety of services and products (protection against avalanches, walking trails, etc.). Most forest services and products are not provided by markets and the extent of their availability is often guaranteed by public funding. In this context, the question arises whether the high benefits derived from forests could not be converted into cash more easily. Looking at various explanations for the market failure (externalities, public goods, property rights) possible marketing strategies for forest products and services and how they could optimize social welfare are investigated. Although general compensation criteria are not available, economic concepts (type of externality, scarcity, etc.) provide a first clue as to the necessity of compensation. However, mention must be made that compensation is always the result of a social agreement, and financial compensation as well as property rights are subject to social change. From a political and an economic perspective the payment of compensation for forest benefits is limited.

B is for Bias

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-47
Author(s):  
Calin Valsan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Rational Expectations ◽  
Economic Environment ◽  
Rational Agents ◽  
Economic Agents ◽  
Behavioral Biases ◽  
The Social ◽  
Modern Economic

Standard economic theory assumes rational agents. Individuals are expected to have rational expectations and constantly optimize their choices. Modern economic and financial theory is build under the assumption of rationality. There is plenty of evidence from psychology, however, that individuals are biased and rely heavily on heuristics in order to make decisions. Yet, this is not a mere fluke, a behavioral oddity. Because the social and economic environment in which individuals evolve is complex, behavioral biases represent evolutionary adaptations allowing economic agents to deal with undecidability and computational irreducibility.

THE CONCEPT OF INFRAMARGINAL ANALYSIS IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN ECONOMIC THEORY

2021 ◽  
pp. 6-14
Author(s):  
E. A. Gasanov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Modern Economic

Inframarginal analysis is a special section of modern economic theory. The article describes the essence of the inframarginal approach, examines its general theoretical origins and presents key characteristics

scholarly journals Martín de Azpilcueta: The Spanish Scholastic on Usury and Time-Preference

Studia Humana ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-36
Author(s):  
Pedro J. Caranti
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Time Preference ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Preference Theory ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
The University

AbstractMartín de Azpilcueta and his fellow Spanish Scholastics writing and teaching at the University of Salamanca during Spain’s Golden Age are rightly pointed to by historians of economic thought as being major contributors toward, if not outright founders of modern economic theory. Among these is the theory of time-preference for which Azpilcueta has repeatedly been given the credit for discovering. However, this discovery is a curious one given how the same man, Azpilcueta, condemned usury in general during his whole life. If Azpilcueta did in fact discover this theory and fully understand its implications, we would reasonably expect him to have questioned his support for the ban on charging an interest on a loan. This paper, therefore, challenges the claim that Azpilcueta understood and revived time-preference theory and shows how his understanding was much more nuanced, and, at times, inconsistent.

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