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Vera Demary / Christian Rusche IW-Analyse No. 123 13. September 2018 The Economics of Platforms

Digital platforms already dominate the top 10 of the world’s most valuable firms. The specific characteristics of their business model, such as quick growth and market power soon after market entry, have provoked public discourse.

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The Economics of Platforms
Vera Demary / Christian Rusche IW-Analyse No. 123 13. September 2018

The Economics of Platforms

IW-Analyse

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

Digital platforms already dominate the top 10 of the world’s most valuable firms. The specific characteristics of their business model, such as quick growth and market power soon after market entry, have provoked public discourse.

This paper analyzes digital platforms’ business models, the reasons for their success and the challenges they present. Digital platforms offer an online forum for conducting transactions and therefore are able to dramatically reduce transaction costs, which creates value for platform users. Generally, digital platforms are aware of the high and increasing importance of data. By collecting and combining data from the different user groups, digital platforms are able to improve their service for existing users and to attract new user groups. Digital platforms’ market power and their control over large, valuable sets of data have attracted the attention of regulatory authorities and led to investigations and fines. Economic policy should aim to protect consumers while still fostering the digital platform business model.

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The Economics of Platforms
Vera Demary / Christian Rusche IW-Analyse No. 123 13. September 2018

Vera Demary / Christian Rusche: The Economics of Platforms

IW-Analyse

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

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Data utilisation potentials for companies
Barbara Engels IW-Policy Paper No. 8 21. September 2023

Nothing to do with data?: Data utilisation potentials for companies

If companies want to survive on the market in the long term, they cannot avoid the topic of data.

IW

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Barbara Engels IW-Report No. 46 20. September 2023

Influencer dream job: Likes, views and the great fortune?

The Creator Economy is booming: more and more companies use content creators to promote their products, and more and more people want to become content creators themselves, i.e. create their own digital content, make it available to a growing audience on ...

IW

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