Friday, April 20, 2018

Lagarde urges greater scrutiny of big tech companies

FT, here
Transcript of the CNBC's interview here:

"EISEN: ALL RIGHT. YOU’VE CERTAINLY BEEN WARNING ABOUT THAT. I KNOW YOU LOOK AT BANK REGULATIONS. WHAT ABOUT TECHNOLOGY REGULATIONS? DO YOU THINK WE’RE ABOUT TO SEE A WAVE OF INCREASED SCRUTINY— OBVIOUSLY WE’VE SEEN SCRUTINY, BUT REVELATIONS WHEN IT COMES TO TECH GLOBALLY AND REVELATIONS INTO THEIR COMPETITIVENESS, AND COMPANIES LIKE FACEBOOK, GOOGLE AND AMAZON.
LAGARDE: WELL, AS YOU SAID IN THE IMF, WE SUPPORT FREE MARKET. WE SUPPORT COMPETITION. WE SUPPORT IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY. WE SUPPORT INNOVATION. AND WE KNOW FOR A FACT THAT WHEN THERE IS TOO MUCH MARKET CONCENTRATION IN THE HANDS OF TOO FEW, WE’RE NOT SEEING COMPETITION, WE’RE NOT SEEING INNOVATION. AND OVER TIME WE ARE SEEING, YOU KNOW, GRADUAL --
EISEN: IS THAT WHEN FACEBOOK IS?
LAGARDE: IT DEPENDS HOW YOU DEFINE THE MARKET. IT DEPENDS WHO SUBSTITUTES. I MEAN, IT’S A VERY COMPLICATED DEBATE.
EISEN: YOU’RE NOT GOING TO CALL ANYONE OUT.
LAGARDE: BUT WE SHOULD ACTUALLY DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS THAT LEVEL OF ACCESS TO MARKET, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE ACCUMULATION OF THAT DATA IN THE HANDS OF A FEW IS NOT GOING TO BE SUCH A BARRIER THAT OTHER ENTREPRENEURS SIMPLY CANNOT ACCESS. SO THE SITUATION IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IT WAS IN THE TELECOM AGE OR IN THE GILDED AGE. WE NEED TO REALLY RE-THINK THE WAY IN WHICH THAT SITUATION IS ADDRESSED. COMPETITION IS ENCOURAGED AND IF THAT REQUIRES A NEW SET OF RULES TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE Intangibility OF THOSE ASSETS, IT NEEDS TO BE DONE. LOOK AT TAX, FOR INSTANCE. IT’S ONE IN WHICH ALL POLICYMAKERS AROUND THE WORLD NEED TO ACTUALLY LOOK AT: WHERE IS VALUE LOCATED? WHERE IS VALUE GENERATED? HOW SHOULD IT BE TAXED AND WHAT REVENUE SHOULD BE CONTRIBUTED BY THOSE PLAYERS?"