Regulatory Competition in the Digital Economy: Artificial Intelligence, Data, and Platforms

The digital economy is reinvigorating regulatory competition, yet little is known about which rules and jurisdictions can effectively bind companies nor what competitive motivations underlie certain rules. In addition to purely economic motives, legislators are now also driving the pursuit of digital sovereignty and the enforcement of social values in digital spaces. It also remains unclear what regulatory weight the self-regulation of private companies has in multi-level governance systems. This book examines regulatory competition in the three main pillars of digital markets: artificial intelligence, data, and platforms. It brings together legal scholars, economists and information systems experts, providing relevant examples and structured analysis of the aims and outcomes of regulatory competition in the digital economy.

“A timely exploration of the balancing acts regulators must perform to manage private power in a globalized digital economy. Essential for understanding the intersection of law, economics, and technology in the contemporary digital ecosystem.”

Jens Frankenreiter, Associate Professor of Law, Washington University

“The book by Denga and Hornuf provides a comprehensive and timely exploration of the intricate regulatory challenges posed by big data, artificial intelligence, and platforms in the Digital Single Market. If offers critical insights for policymakers, scholars, and businesses navigating this evolving landscape.”

Philipp Hacker, Professor for Law and Ethics of the Digital Society, European University Viadrin

“Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally disrupting how we enable economic growth and how we regulate fair competition. Luckily, Denga and Hornuf provide a detailed and comprehensive overview of the thorniest and most complex regulatory issues while at the same time offering thoughtful and feasible solutions.  "Regulatory Competition in the Digital Economy" is a treasure trove for anyone interested in market regulation, fair competition, consumer protection, and geopolitical questions.”

Sandra Wachter, Professor of Technology and Regulation, Oxford Internet Institute

PD Dr. Michael Denga completed his PhD in the field of collective IP-rights management in 2014 at the Faculty of Law of the Humboldt University of Berlin. There he also received his habilitation in the subjects of European and German private and business law as well as in IT- and IP law in 2022. Since then, he has been an interim professor for private and business law at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He holds an LL.M. of King’s College London and a Maîtrise en Droit of Paris II (Assas). He also has been a research fellow at the Weizenbaum Institute and the European New School of Digital Studies. His research focus lies at the junction of corporate- and technology law, taking a special interest in the corporate governance of digital business.

Prof. Dr. Lars Hornuf completed his PhD in economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich in 2011 and subsequently received his habilitation in the field of business administration in 2019 at the University of Regensburg. Previously, he was a junior researcher at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research and a research associate at the Institute of International Law at the LMU. He has been a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, Stanford Law School, Duke University, Georgetown University, the CESifo, and the House of Finance at Goethe University Frankfurt. In 2014, he became assistant professor of law and economics in the Department of Economics of Trier University. From 2016 to 2021, he was an affiliated research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. In 2017, Lars Hornuf became a full professor of business administration, specializing in the areas of financial services and financial technology at the University of Bremen, and recently a fellow of the CESifo research network. Since spring 2023 he has been a full professor of business administration specializing in financial services and financial technology at Dresden University of Technology. He has worked on numerous projects related to financial technology, financial regulation, and data privacy. His research interests also include crowdsourcing, law and finance, and behavioral science. Media including The Economist and Foreign Policy have reported on his research findings.