000			02511nam a22002657a 4500
999			_c1822 _d1822
003			OSt
005			20191014092016.0
008			191014b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a978-0-674-54547-2
040			_cIZA
100			_aEzrachi, Ariel _94825
110			_aStucke, Maurice D. _94826
245			_aVirtual Competition: The Promise and Perils of the Algorithm-Driven Economy
260			_aCambridge, Mass., _bHarvard University Press, _c2016
300			_a356 pages
520			_aShoppers with Internet access and a bargain-hunting impulse can find a universe of products at their fingertips. In this thought-provoking exposé, Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice Stucke invite us to take a harder look at today’s app-assisted paradise of digital shopping. While consumers reap many benefits from online purchasing, the sophisticated algorithms and data-crunching that make browsing so convenient are also changing the nature of market competition, and not always for the better. Computers colluding is one danger. Although long-standing laws prevent companies from fixing prices, data-driven algorithms can now quickly monitor competitors’ prices and adjust their own prices accordingly. So what is seemingly beneficial—increased price transparency—ironically can end up harming consumers. A second danger is behavioral discrimination. Here, companies track and profile consumers to get them to buy goods at the highest price they are willing to pay. The rise of super-platforms and their “frenemy” relationship with independent app developers raises a third danger. By controlling key platforms (such as the operating system of smartphones), data-driven monopolies dictate the flow of personal data and determine who gets to exploit potential buyers. Virtual Competition raises timely questions. To what extent does the “invisible hand” still hold sway? In markets continually manipulated by bots and algorithms, is competitive pricing an illusion? Can our current laws protect consumers? The changing market reality is already shifting power into the hands of the few. Ezrachi and Stucke explore the resulting risks to competition, our democratic ideals, and our economic and overall well-being.
653			_adigital shopping
653			_adigialization
653			_adigital economy
653			_apricing
653			_amarket
653			_amarket competition
856			_uhttps://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674545472 _yPublisher's website
942			_2z _cBO