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This Forum and Conference

Data-Driven Economy: Challenges and Opportunities

The transformation of data into an independent and strategic asset poses challenges for companies, regulators and policymakers alike. On 17 June 2019 in Berlin, together with the German Economic Institute (IW), Intereconomics hosted a conference on the “Data-Driven Economy” to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of competition policy, business models and data governance.

In order to guide the data-driven economy to benefit the greater good, regulators and policymakers will have to refine an often inefficient legal and regulatory framework. Justus Haucap opened the event with a look at direct and indirect network effects and the challenges they pose for regulators with regards to competition and competition policy for platform markets. Our participants examined the tools for utilising and monetising data as well as different takes on data governance and discovered that there clearly is no 'one-size-fits-all' model of this concept.

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Open Access Now!

Intereconomics 2017/4

In this issue's Forum The European Digital Single Market ten economists debate the achievements and shortcomings of the European Commission's DSM strategy. Other articles cover a wide range of topics as Macron, the Agreement on Net Financial Assets (ANFA), Business Cycle Desynchronisation, Strong Europe with More National Scope of Action, Growth Forecasts for China and America's Health Care War.

To Intereconomics July/August 2017

Monetary System

Two Views of the International Monetary System

Barry Eichengreen breaks down the two schools of thought on the future of the international monetary system, named after two top schools: Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley. The 'Harvard view', states that there is a striking degree of persistence in the structure of the system, which is dollar-based and U.S. led to a large extent. Whereas the 'Berkeley view' believes that the system is evolving away from the US and the dollar, toward a multipolar world in which several consequential international and reserve currencies will coexist, other countries will no longer rely exclusively or even mainly on the U.S. for international liquidity and governance will be a collective endeavor. Find out which view he espouses in this article. Spoiler alert: Eichengreen is a Berkeley professor.

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Quote of the Month

Big Data

"Big Data is expected to unleash data-driven innovation, which is supposed to better address and solve challenges in our society."

from Max von Grafenstein, Alina Wernick and Christopher Olk's Forum article Data Governance: Enhancing Innovation and Protecting Against Its Risks

Figure of the Month

Definition and implementation of data governance

Disinflation as a global phenomenon

This figure from Barbara Engels' forum article Data Governance as the Enabler of the Data Economy shows the definition and implementation of data governance in companies that store at least a small amount of data.

Editorial

Ursula von der Leyen – A Rocky Start, But Brighter Prospects

Ursula von der Leyen's first test as the new President of the European Commission will be the formation of the Commission based on Member State nominations, writes Andrew Watt.  Watt believes that the coalition supporting the Commission as a whole will be considerably larger and different in composition come autumn than that which narrowly elected von der Leyen in July. And this may determine how far she is able to take her agenda.

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Forum

Competition and Competition Policy in a Data-Driven Economy

How has the digital economy changed value chains and competitive processes in many industries and markets? Justus Haucap explains the importance of digital platforms and the essential nature of data across so many industries. And while data has been referred to as the 'new oil' of this century, he jokes that although both data and oil may be extracted via platforms, they are still different in that data is non-rival in use and it is not only non-exhaustible, but growing. These differences have substantial consequences for competiton policy and Haucap lays them out in this article.

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Letter From America

Access to Data Will Change the World Power Structure

Access to data - not Artificial Intelligence - and countries' management of that data will determine the future world power structure, says data scientist Lutz Finger. As data usage is a societal decision, different countries will have different regulations regarding data and how to use predictions made from it. For example, in Europe, car insurance companies may not use gender as a data point whereas this data is permissable in the US. While Europe has established its signature legislation on privacy, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Chinese government's relative lack of regulation and the behavioral information they are able to collect may give them a competitive edge.

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