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As an academic economist, I am glad they are doing this. (Disclosure: I don’t work on platform or network issues, nor do I have a funding relationship with any

As an academic economist, I am glad they are doing this. (Disclosure: I don’t work on platform or network issues, nor do I have a funding relationship with any of these companies.) As the article notes (and as is true) there are issues in the regulation of platform markets and network goods in economics which are still quite unclear, even in theory. It isn’t clear what the right (theoretical) model is or what the welfare costs or benefits are, so the best way to regulate these firms or do competition policy in this area is similarly unclear. What’s more, even if you have a model, that’s not enough to convince people. You will generally need data to estimate it to get an idea of what the costs or benefits of different market structures or regulations would be in practice. These firms are the only firms that can provide that data. (Exception: the government can demand it as part of an antitrust investigation, but that is generally locked down and unavailable for research.) Anyone accepting their money should absolutely disclose that relationship in any project remotely related to those issues, but you can generally find such disclosures, at least with economists. I also very much doubt that a research grant of the size of academic research grants I’m aware of is enough to “buy” someone’s opinion. This is not some nefarious conspiracy!

jka 5y ago
Aren't there intrinsic conflict-of-interest risks if the only companies who can provide data for regulatory guidance are the companies themselves?
- huitzitziltzin 5y ago
  Normally when you sign an agreement with any firm to get data they get the right to look at what you did but they explicitly give up any editorial role. They might, however, not be that excited to give you the data for a second project if they don’t like what you said in the first one? That’s possible. So overall: maybe a small conflict?? But I don’t think the effects on the conclusion of the research are likely to be that strong. Not in economics anyway. No one’s research agenda is so tied to any one industry. Most of the firms can comfort themselves with the thought that the readership of whatever journal you publish in is probably measured in tens or hundreds.
AlbertCory 5y ago
Disclosure: I worked in Google Legal for 3 years, and helped hire a person from the gov't, who is now with their Public Policy Dep't, AFAIK. Rather than argue if the $$$ does or doesn't affect their research, or if they should disclose, let's do a thought experiment: Dr. Recent Hire, who lacks tenure, thinks "hey, I'd like to do a study on Internet Censorship. YouTube does a lot of that, don't they?" If you honestly believe the department chairman will just wave that through, knowing how much Google will hate it, you are pretty naive.
- ocdtrekkie 5y ago
  In fact, a "think tank" on Google's Public Policy list actually fired their anti-monopoly team for being too critical of Google: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mattstoller2/google-tried-to-shut-us-down https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mattstoller2/google-tri... Thanks for speaking up, more people who have been inside need to be telling it like it is on what these relationships do.
  - AlbertCory 5y ago
    I knew that article looked familiar: it's four years old. But yeah, Big Tech is not going to subsidize its enemies, anymore than Big Tobacco was. They may not tell you explicitly "don't publish that" but they certainly can cut back or cancel your grant.
- huitzitziltzin 5y ago
  Maybe I’m misunderstanding your comment. Do you think my department chair has any influence over my research agenda? He does not. Not even the smallest amount. This is the case across (at the very least) every economics department at any US university, and likely most other academic departments too. There is nothing for him to “waive through,” and certainly no option for him to not approve of something. Furthermore, if I get a good publication out of a project, the department chair will be pleased for me whether Google likes it or not.
  - AlbertCory 5y ago

jka 5y ago

Aren't there intrinsic conflict-of-interest risks if the only companies who can provide data for regulatory guidance are the companies themselves?

huitzitziltzin 5y ago
Normally when you sign an agreement with any firm to get data they get the right to look at what you did but they explicitly give up any editorial role. They might, however, not be that excited to give you the data for a second project if they don’t like what you said in the first one? That’s possible. So overall: maybe a small conflict?? But I don’t think the effects on the conclusion of the research are likely to be that strong. Not in economics anyway. No one’s research agenda is so tied to any one industry. Most of the firms can comfort themselves with the thought that the readership of whatever journal you publish in is probably measured in tens or hundreds.

AlbertCory 5y ago

Disclosure: I worked in Google Legal for 3 years, and helped hire a person from the gov't, who is now with their Public Policy Dep't, AFAIK. Rather than argue if the $$$ does or doesn't affect their research, or if they should disclose, let's do a thought experiment: Dr. Recent Hire, who lacks tenure, thinks "hey, I'd like to do a study on Internet Censorship. YouTube does a lot of that, don't they?" If you honestly believe the department chairman will just wave that through, knowing how much Google will hate it, you are pretty naive.

ocdtrekkie 5y ago
In fact, a "think tank" on Google's Public Policy list actually fired their anti-monopoly team for being too critical of Google: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mattstoller2/google-tried-to-shut-us-down https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mattstoller2/google-tri... Thanks for speaking up, more people who have been inside need to be telling it like it is on what these relationships do.
- AlbertCory 5y ago
  I knew that article looked familiar: it's four years old. But yeah, Big Tech is not going to subsidize its enemies, anymore than Big Tobacco was. They may not tell you explicitly "don't publish that" but they certainly can cut back or cancel your grant.
huitzitziltzin 5y ago
Maybe I’m misunderstanding your comment. Do you think my department chair has any influence over my research agenda? He does not. Not even the smallest amount. This is the case across (at the very least) every economics department at any US university, and likely most other academic departments too. There is nothing for him to “waive through,” and certainly no option for him to not approve of something. Furthermore, if I get a good publication out of a project, the department chair will be pleased for me whether Google likes it or not.
- AlbertCory 5y ago