The ground beneath our feet

Thanks to the rapid advance in technology, the arrival of artificial intelligence, and easy digital connectivity across nations, the ground beneath the global economy is shifting. This has given rise to new social and political problems and challenges for market capitalism. The paper argues the need for original work in economic theory to capture and understand the essence of markets in this new, digital age; and goes on to speculate about what shape this may take. The paper discusses the need to think out of the box in terms of economic policy, arguing that the reach of antitrust law is inadequate for our digital-platform-based economy, and we have to think of new forms of regulation.