The New Goliaths

“Bessen is a master of unpacking the nuances of a complex array of interrelated trends to build a coherent story of how the promise of the democratized Internet ended up under the control of just a few. Read The New Goliaths to see how the forest came to have only room for a few tall trees with the rest of us in the undergrowth.”—Joshua Gans, coauthor of Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence

“Information technologies—from the early bar code to cloud computing and artificial intelligence—are transforming our economy. Do firms use these technologies for the greater good or do they take advantage of lax oversight to increase their power and harm workers, consumers, and citizens? How should we regulate the New Goliaths of the digital age? Jim Bessen uses his broad experience and deep knowledge to shed light on these fundamental and contentious issues.”—Thomas Philippon, author of The Great Reversal

“Jim Bessen offers the first detailed account of how concretely the IT revolution ended up discouraging growth and creative destruction in the overall economy while dramatically increasing market concentration and income inequality. This book is an absolute must-read for scholars, policy makers, and anyone interested in the history of growth, innovation, and technological revolutions.”—Philippe Aghion, coauthor of The Power of Creative Destruction

“The New Goliaths is a deeply researched and innovative interpretation of how software innovation has produced more concentrated markets, higher inequality, and slower innovation, productivity growth, and new firm formation.”—Yochai Benkler, author of The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom