Information and Competition in the Digital Economy
The third annual ISB-NBER conference on Economic Policy and the Indian Economy will be held at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad on December 14-15, 2024. The meeting will focus on the measurement and consequences of competition in digital markets for goods and services, including financial services, and on the impact of public policies on the degree of competition and its consequences. The meeting will be co-organized by Shilpa Aggarwal (ISB) and Amit Seru (Stanford University and NBER).
Priority topics for discussion at the conference include, but are not limited to:
- The extent to which digital platform firms have, and exercise, market power, and the consequences of this market power on goods and services as well as data.
- The effect of regulatory policies, including competition policy, in digital markets, and the measurement of policy effects in various countries.
- The role of entry in limiting the competitive power of incumbents in digital platform markets and on innovation and growth.
- Acquisitions, scale economies, and other explanations for the growth of “mega-firms” in the digital economy.
The conference will spotlight research on the India and the South Asian region, but studies of other regions are welcome, particularly when their findings have broad implications for the analysis of digital market competition. The organizers welcome submissions by scholars who are early in their careers, who are not NBER affiliates, and who are members of under-represented groups. To be considered for inclusion on the program, upload completed papers by 11:59pm (EDT) on Monday, July 1, 2024.
Please do not submit papers that have been accepted for publication and that will be published by December 2024. In keeping with NBER requirements, papers may not make policy recommendations. Authors chosen to present papers will be notified in early August. For papers by author teams from outside India, ISB and NBER will provide a travel allowance approximately equal to business class airfare for one author per paper. All other co-authors are welcome to attend the conference at their own expense. For papers prepared by author teams based in India, the conference hosts will reimburse economy-class travel for all co-authors. ISB will cover conference-related lodging and meal expenses for all authors who attend the meeting.
Questions about subject matter may be addressed to shilpa_aggarwal@isb.edu or aseru@stanford.edu. Other conference-related questions may be directed to confer@nber.org. Please share this call for papers with colleagues who may be interested in submitting a paper.