IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/une/wpaper/164.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic properties of data and the monopolistic tendencies of data economy: policies to limit an Orwellian possibility

Author

Listed:
  • Hoi Wai Jackie Cheng

Abstract

The potential of data for supporting development is bounded only by the amount and variety of data that can be collected and analyzed, which is to say it is almost infinite. However, if data’s vast benefits are disproportionately captured by few in the society, leaving no one behind – an overarching principle of the Sustainable Development Goals – would be difficult to attain, even when everyone benefits from the use of data. This paper discusses key data properties and dynamics in data economy that create the tendencies for monopolies to emerge, reinforcing unbalanced power between corporates and other actors and generating negative distributional implications. If mismanaged, transformation toward the data economy could end up being an unequalizing force in an already highly-unequal world. In the context of data economy, this paper presents critiques of the common approaches to deal with monopolies. Self-correction in market is unlikely to happen fast enough but breaking up or nationalizing data monopolies are undesirable from effectiveness and innovation perspectives. Strengthening data ownership is key to rebalancing the power asymmetry between corporates and digital subjects, but difficulty of data valuation needs to be overcome. Analyses in this paper support further exploring the idea of setting up an independent, accountable and forward-looking Digital Authority that has both competition and non-competition goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Hoi Wai Jackie Cheng, 2020. "Economic properties of data and the monopolistic tendencies of data economy: policies to limit an Orwellian possibility," Working Papers 164, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    • Handle: RePEc:une:wpaper:164
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/publication/CDP_BP40_Apr_2018.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giovanni Cornia & Bruno Martorano, "undated". "Building the integrated inequality database and the seven sins of inequality measurement in Sub-Saharan Africa," UNDP Africa Policy Notes 2016-01, United Nations Development Programme, Regional Bureau for Africa.
    2. Rahul Lahoti & Arjun Jayadev & Sanjay G. Reddy, 2014. "The Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP): An Introduction and Preliminary Findings," LIS Working papers 621, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    3. Michael Grimm & Isabel Günther, 2007. "Growth and Poverty in Burkina Faso: A Reassessment of the Paradox," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 16(1), pages 70-101, January.
    4. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea (ed.), 2014. "Falling Inequality in Latin America: Policy Changes and Lessons," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198701804.
    5. Channing Arndt & Sam Jones & Vincenzo Salvucci, 2015. "When do relative prices matter for measuring income inequality? The case of food prices in Mozambique," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(3), pages 449-464, September.
    6. Channing Arndt & Sam Jones & Vincenzo Salvucci, 2015. "When do relative prices matter for measuring income inequality? The case of food prices in Mozambique," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(3), pages 449-464, September.
    7. Leonardo Gasparini & Federico Gutiérrez & Leopoldo Tornarolli, 2007. "Growth And Income Poverty In Latin America And The Caribbean: Evidence From Household Surveys," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 53(2), pages 209-245, June.
    8. Li, Hongyi & Squire, Lyn & Zou, Heng-fu, 1998. "Explaining International and Intertemporal Variations in Income Inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(446), pages 26-43, January.
    9. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Bruno Martorano, 2012. "Development Policies and Income Inequality in Selected Developing Regions, 1980–2010," UNCTAD Discussion Papers 210, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    10. Giovanna Andrea Cornia & Antonio Scognamillo, 2016. "Clusters of Least Developed Countries, their evolution between 1993 and 2013, and policies to expand their productive capacity," CDP Background Papers 033, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    11. Stephan Klasen, 2003. "In Search of The Holy Grail: How to Achieve Pro-Poor Growth ?," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 096, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Atkinson, Anthony B., 2015. "Inequality: what can be done?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101810, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Lakner,Christoph & Negre Rossignoli,Mario & Prydz,Espen Beer & Lakner,Christoph & Negre Rossignoli,Mario & Prydz,Espen Beer, 2014. "Twinning the goals : how can promoting shared prosperity help to reduce global poverty ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7106, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mihaela Tofan & Ionel Bostan, 2022. "Some Implications of the Development of E-Commerce on EU Tax Regulations," Laws, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-26, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cornia Giovanni Andrea, 2018. "Eradicating Poverty by the Year 2030: Implications for Income Inequality, Population Policies, Food Prices (and Faster Growth?)," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 9(2), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2018. "Eradicating Poverty by 2030: Implications for Income Inequality, Population Policies, Food Prices (and Faster Growth?)," Working Papers - Economics wp2018_09.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    3. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2020. "Is Rising Inequality Unavoidable in a Globalizing Economy Characterized by Rapid Technical Change?," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(1), pages 39-65, March.
    4. Bruno Martorano, 2018. "Taxation and Inequality in Developing Countries: Lessons from the Recent Experience of Latin America," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 256-273, March.
    5. Bruno Martorano, 2018. "Taxation and Inequality in Developing Countries: Lessons from the Recent Experience of Latin America," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 256-273, March.
    6. Carlos Garcimartín & Jhonatan Astudillo & André Martínez, 2021. "Inflation and income distribution in Central America, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 315-339, February.
    7. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea, 2014. "Income inequality in Latin America. Recent decline and prospects for its further reduction," Macroeconomía del Desarrollo 36852, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    8. Guillermo Cruces & Gary S. Fields & David Jaume & Mariana Viollaz, 2015. "The growth-employment-poverty nexus in Latin America in the 2000s: Cross-country analysis," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-110, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Facundo Alvaredo & Mauricio de Rosa & Ignacio Flores & Marc Morgan, 2022. "The Inequality (or the Growth) we Measure: Data Gaps and the Distribution of Incomes," Working Papers halshs-03693223, HAL.
    10. Francisco G. Ferreira & Nora Lustig & Daniel Teles, 2015. "Appraising cross-national income inequality databases: An introduction," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(4), pages 497-526, December.
    11. Carlos Rodriguez-Castelan & Luis F. Lopez-Calva & Nora Lustig & Daniel Valderrama, 2016. "Understanding the Dynamics of Labor Income Inequality in Latin America," Working Papers 1608, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    12. Guillermo Cruces & Gary Fields & David Jaume & Mariana Viollaz, 2015. "The growth-employment-poverty nexus in Latin America in the 2000s: Cross-country analysis," WIDER Working Paper Series 110, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. La-Bhus Fah Jirasavetakul & Christoph Lakner, 2020. "The Distribution of Consumption Expenditure in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Inequality Among All Africans," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 29(1), pages 1-25.
    14. Arne Bigsten, 2018. "Determinants of the Evolution of Inequality in Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 27(1), pages 127-148.
    15. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Antonio Scognamillo, 2016. "Clusters of Least Developed Countries, their evolution between 1993 and 2013, and policies to expand their productive capacity," Working Papers - Economics wp2016_12.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    16. Abdulaleem Isiaka & Alexander Mihailov & Giovanni Razzi, 2022. "Reallocating Government Spending to Reduce Income Inequality: Panel Data Evidence from the Middle-Income Countries," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2022-08, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    17. Simson, Rebecca, 2018. "Mapping recent inequality trends in developing countries," Economic History Working Papers 101863, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    18. Nora Lustig, 2018. "Measuring the Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth: State of Play and Measurement Challenges," Working Papers 1801, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    19. Helen Barnes & Vanda Castelo & Finório Castigo & Antonio S. Cruz & Michell Mpike & Michael Noble & Gemma Wright, 2016. "Tax-benefit microsimulation modelling in Mozambique: A feasibility study," WIDER Working Paper Series 027, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea, 2014. "Income inequality in Latin America. Recent decline and prospects for its further reduction," Macroeconomía del Desarrollo 149, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Data economy; Data properties; Market competition; Monopoly; Inequality; Consumer protection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D18 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Protection
    • D42 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Monopoly
    • L4 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:une:wpaper:164. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Aimee Gao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/desunus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.