Let’s rethink market power in tech

[Commentary] In a nutshell, the traditional approach to assessing market power is to first define “market” and then define “power.” But what if markets are rapidly changing so that defining one is illusive? And what if what appears to be power is fleeting or is actually earned by a company simply doing a great job for customers?

It’s time to look for a new approach. Market boundaries and market outcomes result from basic conditions and people’s decisions. In tech, by the time we observe the boundaries and outcomes, they are no longer relevant, and we should therefore rely instead on analyses of the basic conditions and decisions.

[Mark Jamison is the director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida and was selected by President-elect Donald Trump to lead his FCC transition team.]