Presentations & Interviews

From Mainframes to Mandates: The Evolution of Platform Regulation

At the International Center for Law & Economics’ March 13 conference in Rome—“Substance over Slogans: Competition and the Wealth of Nations”—the third panel, “From Mainframes to Mandates: The Evolution of Platform Regulation,” featured Dirk Auer, Randal C. Picker, David Bosco, Nicola Giocoli, and Thomas A. Lambert. The discussion used the history of computing to frame current debates, emphasizing how policy, investment, and technological change shape competition—and cautioning against easy analogies from past antitrust interventions.

The panel then turned to platforms and AI. Participants explored tradeoffs between open and closed ecosystems, unbundling, and mergers, while debating whether traditional tools still fit platform markets. The tension was clear: pressure to act early collides with the high—and often unpredictable—error costs of intervening in fast-moving industries.

Video of the full panel is embedded below.