Abstract
The current policy discussion over Big Tech Acquisitions debates whether merger control needs to be updated to account for the particular features of digital industries. Empirical evidence on the competitive effects of big tech acquisitions is still scarce. Based on product-level data from the Google Play Store, we find that half of the acquired apps are discontinued, whereas continued apps become free of charge but request more privacy-sensitive permissions post-acquisition. To fully evaluate the competitive effects of Big Tech Acquisitions, it is necessary to study the impact on competing apps as well as potential spillovers to competing developers’ other apps.
Reinhold Kesler
Assistant Professor of Economics
My research agenda involves studying the power of digital platforms and the value of user data by means of innovative data collection and state-of-the-art empirical methods.