A new report by the journalist network Investigate Europe claims representatives of Facebook and Google pressured members of an EU working group on fake news to drop proposals that would have called for an examination of the role played by tech platforms’ business models and market power in the spread of disinformation online.
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Weakening competition policy in Europe risks creating monopolies rather than industrial champions.
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UChicago Law’s Randy Picker puzzles over the rationale behind last week’s multibillion-euro fine on Google by the European Commission. While the decision makes a statement about acceptable market entry paths for dominant firms, it also appears to undervalue the benefits of business model competition, he writes.
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In an interview with ProMarket, former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Paul Tucker explains why the “unelected power” of central bankers threatens our system of government.
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The European Commission’s 2001 decision to stop GE’s acquisition of Honeywell might be the most famous of its several decisions to interfere in mergers of US companies, and has prompted some observers to accuse it of seeking to protect European firms from competition. So what do the data say on the subject?
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A new study examines the role of the 2007–9 global financial crisis and its metastasis in Europe on voting and political beliefs, showing that crisis-driven economic insecurity is a substantial driver of populism and political distrust.
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The potential impact of Europe’s revised Payment Services Directive, known as PSD2, should not be underestimated, as banks adapt to a flatter and more competitive landscape.
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The German cities of Hamburg and Lübeck have an interwoven and eventful history. Whereas Lübeck offers an example of how dominant cities may become unattractive and decline when they end up serving the interests of a privileged few and refuse to change, Hamburg serves as a tale of how cities can reinvent themselves by changing with the times.
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[Updated with Part II, Oct. 10] The Catalonian problem required farsighted political leadership. We got the opposite, and now the patients are running the asylum, says Tano Santos of Columbia University.
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The “no” vote in Italy’s referendum was not unexpected, economically meaningful, or against globalization. In these regards, it was not like Brexit or Trump. Yet in all three cases, the winner succeeded in spite of overwhelming support from elites and the media for the other side.
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Joseph Stiglitz: “it may be necessary to abandon the euro to save the European project.” Markus Brunnermeier: “the situation is improving. The structural reforms really worked, and made a huge difference.”
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Brunnermeier, co-author of the recent book The Euro and the Battle of Ideas, participated in our November 30 event on the future of the euro (you can watch the panel here). In an interview with ProMarket, he explained why the euro crisis is largely driven by a clash between the opposing economic philosophies of France and Germany.
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