A PYMNTS Company

The Impulse to Condemn the Strange: Assessing Big Data in Antitrust

By  |  March 12, 2020

By Alexander Krzepicki, Joshua D. Wright & John M. Yun (Antonin Scalia Law School)

    Get the Full Story

    Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required.

    yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today.

    By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

    An emerging refrain in antitrust dialog is that the accumulation and use of big data is a unique and particularly troublesome entry barrier, worthy of antitrust scrutiny. Yet, it seems that both the concept of big data and entry barriers continue to be used in a highly casual and superficial manner. In this article, we argue that big data should properly be considered a two-stage process. In stage one, a firm collects the data. In stage two, a firm transforms the data into some benefit that ultimately increases profitability. We also discuss whether big data should be considered an entry barrier, which, in a broad and abstract sense, measures the relative difficulty of obtaining necessary inputs to production.

    Continue Reading…