Choice in the Platform Economy: Insights from Competing Economic Explanations.

It is widely believed that digital platforms enrich consumer choice by providing more options and information about choices. This classical understanding of informed choice is underpinned by assumptions of perfect rationality and complete information. This contribution scrutinises platforms’ effect on consumer choice and employs competing economic explanations to answer the question, “Can consumers make informed choices about their interactions with digital platforms?” First, theories from New Institutional Economics explain how platforms become unavoidable intermediaries on the micro and macro-level. Then, a Critical Political Economy lens is used to discuss why and how platform owners control consumer choice. Both approaches reveal suggestions for further research and support a call to tear down the mental barriers separating consumer and citizen mindsets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]