Panel: Platform Economy and Regulation: The Challenge for Public Administration
Panel chairs
Scientific Director of Foundation for the
Environment and of "Turin School of Local Regulation”, he coordinates
research programmes on regulation and innovation, on the interaction
between economics, energy and the environment and on local public
services, as well as capacity building and support activities for local
public entities. Recently his interest has been focusing on the effects
of platforms in reshaping local services and regulation. He has been
adjunct Professor in Environmental Economics at the Polytechnic of
Torino, University of East Piedmont, Saint John International
University, he taught short courses at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
and Jyväskylä University. His last academic publication (ed) is "The
Political Economy of Local Regulation”, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Executive coordinator and international
development of Fondazione per l’Ambiente and Turin School of Local
Regulation. She is urban anthropologist with a PhD in Urban Planning
from the University of Rome La Sapienza and a MSc from the LSE; in 2009
Monica has been ‘visiting student’ at Harvard University. Her main
interests are represented by social, institutional and spatial changes
which are transforming urban realities. In the last years she has been
involved in a research on the platform economy and its effects. Since
2017 she is collaborating with Fondazione per l’Ambiente as executive
coordinator and international development.
After the bachelor's degree in Law and Economics at the University of Bologna, he graduated in Environmental Economics and Policies at the University of Turin. He attended the training activities of the PhD programme in Economic Sociology and Labour Studies at the University of Milan. He collaborated with Fondazione Sabattini as researcher on working conditions in the Italian automotive Sector. Since October 2017 he has been collaborating with Fondazione per l'Ambiente as research assistant on sharing economy regulatory aspects.
- Franco Becchis, Turin School of Regulation, Italy, franco.becchis@turinschool.eu
Scientific Director of Foundation for the
Environment and of "Turin School of Local Regulation”, he coordinates
research programmes on regulation and innovation, on the interaction
between economics, energy and the environment and on local public
services, as well as capacity building and support activities for local
public entities. Recently his interest has been focusing on the effects
of platforms in reshaping local services and regulation. He has been
adjunct Professor in Environmental Economics at the Polytechnic of
Torino, University of East Piedmont, Saint John International
University, he taught short courses at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
and Jyväskylä University. His last academic publication (ed) is "The
Political Economy of Local Regulation”, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
- Monica Postiglione, Turin School of Regulation, Italy, monica.postiglione@fondazioneambiente.org
Executive coordinator and international
development of Fondazione per l’Ambiente and Turin School of Local
Regulation. She is urban anthropologist with a PhD in Urban Planning
from the University of Rome La Sapienza and a MSc from the LSE; in 2009
Monica has been ‘visiting student’ at Harvard University. Her main
interests are represented by social, institutional and spatial changes
which are transforming urban realities. In the last years she has been
involved in a research on the platform economy and its effects. Since
2017 she is collaborating with Fondazione per l’Ambiente as executive
coordinator and international development.
- Stefano Valerio, Turin School of Regulation, Italy, stefano.valerio@fondazioneambiente.org
After the bachelor's degree in Law and Economics at the University of Bologna, he graduated in Environmental Economics and Policies at the University of Turin. He attended the training activities of the PhD programme in Economic Sociology and Labour Studies at the University of Milan. He collaborated with Fondazione Sabattini as researcher on working conditions in the Italian automotive Sector. Since October 2017 he has been collaborating with Fondazione per l'Ambiente as research assistant on sharing economy regulatory aspects.Call for papers
Aims of the panel
In the name of sharing and collaboration, new digital markets which operate through web platforms and apps are disrupting old industries worldwide, straining labour market rules and, more in general, both regulation and the role historically played by policy makers in fostering and protecting general interest, public goods and the consumer. Competition, ownership rights, privacy protection, data management, taxation, labour rights and welfare, health and safety, and consumer protection are some of the main fields/areas/concepts that have been strongly impacted by the new digital oligopolies that are operating across sectoral boundaries, challenging the existing regulatory framework.
Policymakers, especially at the local level, sometimes seem unprepared to effectively cope with this wide array of issues raised by digital markets: traditional regulation, in fact, rarely proved helpful, often restricting itself to only playing the role of blocking these technological and organisational innovations under the constant pressure coming from lobbying activities of old incumbent industries.
So far, major efforts have been made to address particular disputes concerning different sectors, concentrating on the aspect of competition between old and new players (e.g., Uber, Airbnb, etc). However, existing regulation doesn’t seem effective and sufficient to respond to the complex and diverse new challenges that are emerging.
Furthermore, regulation appears today to be one of the most significant barriers to the growth of the platform economy, especially when it just copies and pastes rules that have been designed for and applied to traditional economic actors with the aim of extending them to those newcomers operating in the digital environment, without making an effort to understand how to properly accompany such innovations. There is a need to rewrite a set of common/simple regulatory basic principles, as competition policy had made in past decades, a task that is far from being accomplished and is at the core of the activity of the Turin School of Regulation.
The panel focuses on the way the collaborative/sharing/platform economy is challenging the assumptions of regulation and its mechanisms and, at the same time, analyses how regulators could better cope with the problems raised by these new digital actors, in order to achieve – without hindering technological innovation - some important goals such as guaranteeing fair competition, safeguarding consumers’ safety, protecting personal data, and preventing the worst effects of economic disruption.
The aim of the panel is to discuss the most relevant and complex aspects of the phenomenon, in the hope of helping and providing policymakers and stakeholders with a theoretical toolbox and a more general vision.
Focus, expectations and topics for the 2019 conference
Many complex economic, socio-technical and anthropological transformations lie at the basis of the rise and development of the platform economy. It is important to "unpack” the whole concept of the platform economy without assuming rigid sectoral/industrial boundaries. We will try to devote attention to each specific aspect of regulatory interest emerging from the innovative business models under investigation.
• Trust. The focus is on the importance of the embeddedness of economic transactions, including those enabled by platforms, in key social factors such as trust and reputation.
• Microeconomics of platforms, market disruption and legal aspects. This section provides a descriptive picture, from a microeconomic viewpoint of the structural features which determine the success of platforms, and their ability to disrupt traditional industries, the supposed end of the Coasian firm in favour of lean and network organisation, at the same time leading to regulatory problems associated with the legal definition of platforms activities.
• Regulation overhauling. Starting from the assumptions which characterise the current regulatory approach, this section provides a critical assessment of the relationship between the economic analysis and legal framework in times of disruptive innovations.
• Policy options. The core of this part is represented by a series of empirically oriented suggestions to concretely cope with the multiple challenges raised by platforms.
• Labour. This section discusses a set of issues concerning the definition of the type of employment/labour relationships which arise in the digital environment, highlighting the main economic, legal and social problems and implications.
• Data. Finally, we concentrate on the complex issues of data collection, management, ownership and access, taking into consideration a series of different cases and those areas which still seem to be in need of an appropriate regulatory intervention.
The discussion will analyse some of the most relevant and crucial themes which are at the core of the platform economy and that need to be considered to better understand and define the relationship between platform and regulation. The panel aims to produce a better comprehension of the several mechanisms of the phenomenon and its different and often overlapping dimensions.
In the name of sharing and collaboration, new digital markets which operate through web platforms and apps are disrupting old industries worldwide, straining labour market rules and, more in general, both regulation and the role historically played by policy makers in fostering and protecting general interest, public goods and the consumer. Competition, ownership rights, privacy protection, data management, taxation, labour rights and welfare, health and safety, and consumer protection are some of the main fields/areas/concepts that have been strongly impacted by the new digital oligopolies that are operating across sectoral boundaries, challenging the existing regulatory framework.
Policymakers, especially at the local level, sometimes seem unprepared to effectively cope with this wide array of issues raised by digital markets: traditional regulation, in fact, rarely proved helpful, often restricting itself to only playing the role of blocking these technological and organisational innovations under the constant pressure coming from lobbying activities of old incumbent industries.
So far, major efforts have been made to address particular disputes concerning different sectors, concentrating on the aspect of competition between old and new players (e.g., Uber, Airbnb, etc). However, existing regulation doesn’t seem effective and sufficient to respond to the complex and diverse new challenges that are emerging.
Furthermore, regulation appears today to be one of the most significant barriers to the growth of the platform economy, especially when it just copies and pastes rules that have been designed for and applied to traditional economic actors with the aim of extending them to those newcomers operating in the digital environment, without making an effort to understand how to properly accompany such innovations. There is a need to rewrite a set of common/simple regulatory basic principles, as competition policy had made in past decades, a task that is far from being accomplished and is at the core of the activity of the Turin School of Regulation.
The panel focuses on the way the collaborative/sharing/platform economy is challenging the assumptions of regulation and its mechanisms and, at the same time, analyses how regulators could better cope with the problems raised by these new digital actors, in order to achieve – without hindering technological innovation - some important goals such as guaranteeing fair competition, safeguarding consumers’ safety, protecting personal data, and preventing the worst effects of economic disruption.
The aim of the panel is to discuss the most relevant and complex aspects of the phenomenon, in the hope of helping and providing policymakers and stakeholders with a theoretical toolbox and a more general vision.
Focus, expectations and topics for the 2019 conference
Many complex economic, socio-technical and anthropological transformations lie at the basis of the rise and development of the platform economy. It is important to "unpack” the whole concept of the platform economy without assuming rigid sectoral/industrial boundaries. We will try to devote attention to each specific aspect of regulatory interest emerging from the innovative business models under investigation.
• Trust. The focus is on the importance of the embeddedness of economic transactions, including those enabled by platforms, in key social factors such as trust and reputation.
• Microeconomics of platforms, market disruption and legal aspects. This section provides a descriptive picture, from a microeconomic viewpoint of the structural features which determine the success of platforms, and their ability to disrupt traditional industries, the supposed end of the Coasian firm in favour of lean and network organisation, at the same time leading to regulatory problems associated with the legal definition of platforms activities.
• Regulation overhauling. Starting from the assumptions which characterise the current regulatory approach, this section provides a critical assessment of the relationship between the economic analysis and legal framework in times of disruptive innovations.
• Policy options. The core of this part is represented by a series of empirically oriented suggestions to concretely cope with the multiple challenges raised by platforms.
• Labour. This section discusses a set of issues concerning the definition of the type of employment/labour relationships which arise in the digital environment, highlighting the main economic, legal and social problems and implications.
• Data. Finally, we concentrate on the complex issues of data collection, management, ownership and access, taking into consideration a series of different cases and those areas which still seem to be in need of an appropriate regulatory intervention.
The discussion will analyse some of the most relevant and crucial themes which are at the core of the platform economy and that need to be considered to better understand and define the relationship between platform and regulation. The panel aims to produce a better comprehension of the several mechanisms of the phenomenon and its different and often overlapping dimensions.
Requirement for the contributions
This panel could be an interesting opportunity to discuss this topic with people coming from the NISPAcee region, also in order to understand some of the first responses that regulators and policy makers have so far adopted, and discuss if it would be reasonable to propose a working group on this theme in the future. The collection and the comparison of regulatory policies adopted at the local level can be helpful to better identify which strategies and which instruments are able to determine the success (or failure) of a fair development and are able to drive growth and ameliorate citizens‘ quality of life.
We would like to solicit paper proposals for this panel. Contributions from different areas of expertise are highly welcome, and in particular: public administration, economics, public policy, regulatory economics and game theory, industrial economics, law, sociology, data analysis, marketing and big data. Policy makers, regulators, city planners, utility network specialists, industry experts, software architects, startups, researchers, and local decision makers are welcome to submit their contributions to the discussion. Papers can present specific case studies from the NISPAcee region in particular, or provide a comparative analysis with different NISPAcee countries or between NISPAcee countries and other geographical areas.
This panel could be an interesting opportunity to discuss this topic with people coming from the NISPAcee region, also in order to understand some of the first responses that regulators and policy makers have so far adopted, and discuss if it would be reasonable to propose a working group on this theme in the future. The collection and the comparison of regulatory policies adopted at the local level can be helpful to better identify which strategies and which instruments are able to determine the success (or failure) of a fair development and are able to drive growth and ameliorate citizens‘ quality of life.
We would like to solicit paper proposals for this panel. Contributions from different areas of expertise are highly welcome, and in particular: public administration, economics, public policy, regulatory economics and game theory, industrial economics, law, sociology, data analysis, marketing and big data. Policy makers, regulators, city planners, utility network specialists, industry experts, software architects, startups, researchers, and local decision makers are welcome to submit their contributions to the discussion. Papers can present specific case studies from the NISPAcee region in particular, or provide a comparative analysis with different NISPAcee countries or between NISPAcee countries and other geographical areas.