A couple of weeks ago we assembled some of the most interesting academics, leading practitioners and senior officials at 2 Lord North Street to discuss developments in competition law, in particular in the digital economy. 

Marking the 75^th anniversary of Hayek’s lecture 'The Meaning of Competition', our speakers discussed the concerns that have led governments in the UK and around the world to try and crack down on the perceived dominance of tech giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon. Not all free market supporters agree with activist approaches in digital markets, pointing to the huge consumer surplus and investments in R&D by big tech, as well as the risks and unintended consequences of government intervention. 

On the day, executive director of enforcement at the Competition and Markets Authority, Michael Grenfell, made the case for the government’s proposals, which would regulate firms considered to have Strategic Market Status. His view is that this is necessary to protect competition and innovation, and prevent the most successful businesses exploiting their market power. You can watch Michael’s speech on the IEA YouTube channel here. 

The government’s view was then tested, with data and insights from practitioners Joe Perkins of Compass Lexecon and Christian Ahlborn of Linklaters (whose firms also generously supported the conference). Whereas, Cambridge University’s Diane Coyle called for intervention to go still further, towards eliminating business models based on advertising revenue.

Lively contributions from analyst Ben Evans, Thibault Schrepel from VU Amsterdam, Mikolaj Barczentewicz from the University of Surrey, Kings College London’s Renato Nazzini, the IEA’s Philip Booth and Cento Veljanovski and our co-organiser Aurelien Portuese from the Information Technology and innovation Foundation, saw us through to a closing speech from Minister for the Digital Economy at DCMS, Chris Philp MP.  

All of the presentations will be coming up on our YouTube channel, so look out for a new one each Monday. We will also be publishing a collection of written papers from the contributors. With a draft bill expected in 2022, competition in digital markets is going to be a hot topic and the IEA will continue to lead the debate. 

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION 



Following the conference, IEA Director General Mark Littlewood wrote his fortnightly column for The Times on the regulation of big tech giants.

Mark argued that open competition is the best way to challenge their dominance in the tech sector, reminding readers that “the incredible creative destruction of capitalism in reducing the predominance of seemingly unchallengeable players is swifter and more brutal than we often imagine”. Mark also appeared on Times Radio to discuss his column. You can listen to a clip here. 

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS?

This week, the Office for National Statistics released data on the UK labour market. The figures showed that unemployment and redundancies were down in the period July to September, despite the ending of the furlough scheme.

IEA Editorial and Research Fellow Professor Len Shackleton noted that there has been a record number of job-to-job movements, which signals the vibrancy of the jobs market and rising confidence among workers. However, he also warned that the positive picture may yet be hampered by speculations of winter Covid restrictions and inflation concerns. 

Len's comments were reported across the media, including the regional press and Poltics.co.uk. You can read his full comments here.

Len also wrote an article for CapX, in which he argued that the success of furlough should not be taken as a precedent for further interference in the jobs market. He noted that “The vibrant recovery of the labour market which we are currently witnessing ought to be restoring our faith in the recuperative powers of capitalism.” Read here.

iN THE MEDIA

Equal pay day... This Thursday marked Equal Pay Day. The campaign, run by the Fawcett Society, marks the day when women effectively start 'working for free' because of the gender pay gap. 

In her weekly column for The Spectator, IEA Director of Communications Annabel Denham noted that the campaign is misleading, as "it conflates the gender pay gap with the issue of equal pay for equal work". Annabel argued that this serves to perpetuate the false narrative that women are struggling under a ‘prejudiced, patriarchal society’. 
 

A COP out?...  The climate conference in Glasgow came to a somewhat anti-climatic end last week, as countries agreed to “phase down” rather than “phase out” coal and fossil fuel subsidies.

In an article for The Telegraph Annabel Denham argued that the conference was doomed to fail from the offset. Instead of showboating at elite conferences, she urged policy makers to harness the “unique power of capitalism to bring down the costs of going green”. 

Writing for The Tablet, IEA Senior Academic Fellow Professor Philip Booth argued that that we should move quicker to end subsidies on fossil fuels. He noted that it is "nonsensical" to have a lower VAT rate on a product we are actively trying to reduce the consumption of.



The world is not burning... In an article for Human Progress, Alexander Hammond, Director of the Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity and IEA Free Trade Fellow, noted that despite fatalistic assumptions about the state of the environment, global deforestation has continued to decline, meaning global net-afforestation will become the norm within the next few decades.



Deal or no deal?... The Express reported that President Biden has sided with the EU over Britain in the Northern Ireland Protocol debacle. Discussing the tension between Downing Street and the White House, the article quoted IEA Economics Fellow Julian Jessop on the prospect of a UK-US trade deal in the near future. Read here. 

Submissions are open for the IEA's Monetary Policy Essay Competition, in partnership with the Vinson Centre and the Institute of International Monetary Research. This year’s question is: 'Does inflation matter? And will the current inflation upturn be transitory or not?'

Entries are also still open for this year's Budget Challenge. Schools can enter teams of up to four students to put together a submission that will outline a budget with taxation and spending policy for the United Kingdom in the coming financial year. The deadline to submit is Friday 28 January 2022.

With a little help from our friends.... 

As an educational charity, the work we do is entirely funded by donations. If you are able to help please click here or contact [email protected]. Thank you.

And why not get Amazon to donate too? 

All you have to do is to start shopping on https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ and pick the Institute of Economic Affairs Limited as your chosen charity. The IEA will then receive 0.5% of your spending on most items. Everything else remains the same (and at no additional cost to you).