Cornière, Alexandre de and Taylor, GregORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4563-4862 (2025) Data and competition : a simple framework. RAND Journal of Economics, 56 (4). pp. 494-510.

Abstract

Does enhanced access to data foster or hinder competition among firms? Using
a competition-in-utility framework that encompasses many situations where firms use data, we model data as a revenue-shifter and identify two opposite effects: a mark-up effect according to which data induces firms to compete harder, and a surplus-extraction effect. We provide conditions for data to be pro- or anti- competitive, requiring neither knowledge of demand nor computation of equilibrium. We apply our results to situations where data is used to recommend products, monitor insuree behavior, price-discriminate, or target advertising. We also revisit the issue of data and market structure.