Big Tech Market Power and Democracy

On March 8, 2019, Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat’s candidate for the United States Government, announced her proposals for breaking up big tech companies. For many, big techs has grown to the point of using its market power to destroy small businesses, curbing technological innovation, affecting labor markets, affecting the democratic process (see fake news), and - obviously - over profiting exploiting users’ data. Antitrust remains a relevant public policy, but would it be the best tool to control all of these issues? There are other issues concerning the effects of this technological revolution on the democratic process that are putting the antitrust paradigms in check. This panel will bring North American, European, and Latin American perspectives on different aspects of this theme.

Speakers

Dr Magali Eben is a lecturer in competition law at the University of Glasgow, where she teaches both EU competition law and US antitrust law. Magali was the 2018 ABA’s Antitrust Law International Scholar-in-Residence. She was a visiting researcher at Georgetown University. She teaches competition policy summer classes at the London School of Economics. Magali consults on a wide variety of topics for UK and Belgian law firms. She has particular consultancy expertise before the EU courts in EU foundational principles of law and liability of EU institutions. She holds a PhD from the University of Leeds, which addressed three key challenges for product market definition for online services: products, price, and dynamic competition. Her current research interests lie in the development of markets within the digital economy, EU and European national divergences, and the rule of law.

Ioana Marinescu is assistant professor at UPenn’s School of Social Policy & Practice. She is an economist who studies the labor market to craft policies that can enhance employment, productivity, and economic security. To make an informed policy decision, it is crucial to determine the costs and benefits of policies. Dr. Marinescu’s research expertise includes online job search, antitrust & the labor market, the universal basic income, unemployment insurance, and the minimum wage. Dr. Marinescu’s research has been published in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Labor Economics. She has testified for policy makers, including the House Judiciary Committee, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. Her research has been cited in many media outlets including the New York Times, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal. You can follow her on twitter @mioana and check out her research on her website, marinescu.eu

Dr. Juliana Oliveira Dominguez is Professor of Economic Law at the University of São Paulo (FDRP / USP), with postdoctoral fellowship as Visiting-Scholar at Georgetown University (USA). First and only Brazilian selected by the American Bar Association (Antitrust Section) for the program of International Scholar in Residence (2018). Her book entitled “Antitrust Law”, published by Ed. Saraiva was considered the “best legal book of the year” (“Trofeu Cultura Econômica” - 2008). For a decade she was appointed as a leading lawyer in antitrust and international trade (Cf. Latin Lawyers, Chambers and Partners, Euromoney, among others). Mrs. Domingues worked in several national and international high-profile cases and won national and international awards and prizes as a leading lawyer on antitrust, economic regulation, and international trade (WTO). She won IBRAC-ESSO Award in 2004 and the IBRAC-TIM Award in 2013 and 2018. Member and Regional Director of the Academic Society for Competiton Law (ASCOLA) and internationally recognized as a leading scholar with several articles and books published. She is the Leader of the Competition and Innovation research Group from FDRP/USP. Non-Governmental Adviser of the International Competition Network. Member of the Brazilian Institute for Studies on Competition, Consumer Relations, and International Trade (IBRAC). Member of the Commission on Competition Studies and Economic Regulation-OAB/SP (São Paulo Bar Association). Founder of the Network #WomenInAntitrust (WIA). More at https://t.co/ikrLNeB87T?amp=1

Dr. Thibault Schrepel is an Assistant Professor in European Economic Law at Utrecht University School of Law, and a Faculty Associate at Harvard University’s Berkman Center. He also holds research and teaching positions at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Sciences Po Paris. His website is http://thibaultschrepel.com/en/, and his work related to blockchain can be found at http://blockchainantitrust.com/. Lastly, Thibault’s latest article, co-authored with Vitalik Buterin, can be access at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3597399.