Must-Read: Hal Varian: No Hope of a Quiet Life in the Age of Disruption

Must-Read: Hal Varian: No Hope of a Quiet Life in the Age of Disruption:

Robust competition in tech brings benefits for consumers…

The 20th century was a great time for innovation…. Then, as now, we saw the typical dynamic that accompanies technological innovation: a flood of entrants followed by intense competition and exits, with a handful of large companies remaining. The same script is playing out online… [but] today tech groups are competing across industries rather than within them, and competing globally rather than nationally…. Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple… are not stuck in silos or hemmed in by a single business model… compete intensely… products and services are better, faster and cheaper than ever before….

Why do they not just sit back, stick to what they do best and let the money roll in? Because sitting back is a sure recipe for obsolescence. Entering a new market in the online world is far easier than in the offline world…. Companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and IBM offer services to small operators that range from advertising and app stores to cloud services and open-source software…. Competition in tech is robust for both large and small companies, resulting in low prices, high-quality products and innovation that benefits consumers worldwide…

October 4, 2016

AUTHORS:

Brad DeLong
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