Competition “Inside” the Cloud?

A seldom-articulated (but commonly held) hypothesis is that cloud services are inherently monopolistic: they enjoy tremendous economies of scale, the benefits of which they pass on to consumers. If true, this hypothesis would predict competition (i.e., breaking up big cloud providers) to be an inappropriate remedy: since competition necessarily decreases the scale of the largest competitors, it would also decrease their economies of scale, and consumers would suffer in the form of higher prices, lower quality, or both. 

This talk will present evidence to the contrary. We find evidence that smaller providers can produce services competitive with larger ones, at least in certain markets. Our results imply that the market for cloud services is likely many markets and that competition may indeed prove to be an effective remedy to concentration for some of these markets. We seek to recover empirical means for discovering these market segments.

This seminar will be held both online & in person. You are welcome to join us either in South Hall or via Zoom.

For online participants

Online participants must have a Zoom account and be logged in. Sign up for your free account here. If this is your first time using Zoom, please allow a few extra minutes to download and install the browser plugin or mobile app.

Join the seminar online