Overview

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This cutting edge book introduces the origins and consequences of digital platforms, examining how artificial intelligence-enabled digital platforms collect and process data from and about users by providing social media and e-commerce services. Robin Mansell and W. Edward Steinmueller compare and contrast neoclassical, institutional and critical political economy approaches. They show how uneven power relationships between platform operators and their users are analysed in different economic traditions. Key features include: analysis of economic and public values provides a foundation for platform regulation examines the impacts of platforms on the media industry challenges claims of the inevitability of platform dominance discusses key challenges, including: artificial intelligence, data sharing and competition in the digital economy. This concise book will be indispensable for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of media and communication studies, innovation studies and economics, particularly those focusing on platform economics.

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9781789900620

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Reviews

'Robin Mansell and Edward Steinmueller fill a gap in current scientific work on platform economics and policies. Besides providing a holistic perspective on what platforms are, how they perform economically, and what impact they have on users and society, their critical political economy approach makes it clear that platform strategies and practices are a reflection of power asymmetries in society. Their plea for government intervention, that goes beyond competition law and is based on values and norms regarding what can be exploited commercially and what should be considered collective, is an ambitious but indispensable claim for further scholarly work and policy development in this area.' -- Karen Donders, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium 'Mansell and Steinmueller are two of the most perceptive analysts of the digital world. They take us to the central business institutions of the digital economy, the giant online platforms. The book is compact in length but wide in scope and deep in understanding. The authors effortlessly weave together the tech and business elements that make them radical innovators for the way economic value is generated but public values are challenged. Using three major traditions of economic analysis, they explore alternatives to the data-driven, advertiser-supported model. This book is a significant contribution to our thinking about the digital future.' -- Eli Noam, Columbia Business School, US

Author Information

Robin Mansell, Professor Emerita, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science and W. Edward Steinmueller, R.M. Philips Professor of the Economics of Innovation, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, UK

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