How Is Constructive Interdisciplinary Discourse Beneficial to Antitrust in the Digital Era? (On Herbert Hovenkamp's "Tech Monopoly")

The article presents reflections on the book «Tech Monopoly» by Herbert Hovenkamp, a leading expert in antitrust law, in light of the evolving exchange of ideas between specialists in economic theory (primarily industrial organization) and competition law in the context of the pervasive spread of digital technologies. Comments are provided on the explanation of certain general limits of antitrust (competition) policy in view of a retrospective of interdisciplinary discourse and the approach proposed by Hovenkamp. The article examines variants of anticompetitive conduct by large tech companies, according to Hovenkamp, in the context of such key characteristics of the regulatory object as two-sided markets, digital content, and network effects. The characteristics of the regulatory response to new challenges are revealed, and it is shown why the vision of the subject presented by the author of “Tech Monopoly” can be qualified in terms of a Coasean approach.