Understanding citizens' attitudes towards digital markets

数字市场为国家、经济和社会创造了许多机会。然而，与其他市场一样，它们并不总能产生最有效、最合乎道德的结果。除了引发隐私和数据保护问题外，数字市场还引发了对滥用主导地位、市场行为和消费者选择的竞争担忧。世界各地的立法者和监管者都在寻求监管政策来解决这些问题。然而，虽然政策制定者可以——在制定“支持竞争的监管”的过程中——依赖于越来越多的关于问题经济方面的信息，但他们对与竞争相关的关注和公民的偏好（经济和道德）的了解有限。更普遍的是，虽然对公民政策偏好的研究正在兴起，但学者们在很大程度上忽视了数字市场的偏好。拟议中的博士项目分析了英国公民对数字市场的态度，重点关注与竞争相关的方面。它提出了五个相互关联的研究问题：(i)公民对当前数字市场和“大型科技”公司的运作有什么（如果有的话）担忧？（例如，在消费者选择方面）。（ii）他们希望数字市场是什么样子，为什么？（例如，他们希望看到什么样的市场行为，他们希望看到消费者选择的哪些（限制）？）（iii）他们更喜欢哪种类型的制度来监管市场，为什么？(例如，他们在多大程度上更喜欢自我和政府监管？他们喜欢什么样的规则？)（四）不同人群对数字市场的态度有何不同？（例如，代际之间、英国四个国家之间、社会经济群体之间以及拥有不同数字市场经验的人之间是否存在差异？）公民对不同问题的态度是否明确不同？如果有，是什么推动了这种差异？这些问题是通过具有代表性的全国性调查和焦点小组来解决的。调查的重点是公民的态度和偏好的一般模式。焦点小组将在四国举行，探讨更广泛模式背后的动机，包括公民在数字市场上的经验所起的作用。通过这种方式，该项目质疑正在制定的数字市场监管的合法性。合法性在这里指的是法规与社会规范和原则的兼容性。这种“产出合法性”在民主国家本身就很重要，但也增强了政策的成功，因为它促进了监管执法，使企业更有可能遵守。此外，通过帮助政策制定者考虑到公民，监管的设计不太可能受到商业利益的过度影响。最后，通过探索公民态度的清晰度，该项目有助于更好地理解监管机构公民参与的可行性和适当性。

Digital markets create many opportunities for states,economies, and societies. Yet, like other markets, they donot always produce the most efficient and morallydesirable outcomes. Besides raising questions of privacyand data protection, digital markets have generatedcompetition concerns about abuse of dominance, marketentry, and consumer choice. Legislators and regulatorsworldwide are seeking regulatory policies to address theseissues. Yet, whilst policymakers can - in the process ofdeveloping 'pro-competition regulation' - rely on growinginformation on the economic aspects of the problems, theyhave limited knowledge of the competition-relatedconcerns and preferences of citizens (economic and moral).More generally, whilst the study of citizens' policypreferences is burgeoning, scholars have largely neglectedpreferences in digital markets. The proposed PhD project analyses UK citizens' attitudestowards digital markets, focusing on competition-relatedaspects. It asks five inter-related research questions: (i) What (if any) concerns citizens have regarding thecurrent functioning of digital markets and 'big tech'companies? (e.g., in terms of consumer choice). (ii) What do they want digital markets to look like, andwhy? (e.g., what market conduct do they want to see, andwhat (limits to) consumer choice do they prefer?)(iii) What type of regime do they prefer for any regulationof the markets, and why? (e.g., to what extent do theyprefer self- and government regulation? What sort of rulesdo they prefer?)(iv) How do their attitudes toward digital markets varyacross parts of the population? (e.g., are there differencesbetween generations, the four UK nations, socio-economicgroups, and people with different levels of digital marketexperience?) (v) Does the clarity of citizens' attitudes vary on differentissues and, if so, what drives this diversity?These questions are addressed by using both a representative, nation-wide survey and focus groups. Thesurvey's focus is on general patterns in citizens' attitudesand preferences. The focus groups - to be held in the fournations - explore the motivations behind the broaderpatterns, including the role of citizens' experience withdigital markets. In this way, the project interrogates the legitimacy of thedigital market regulation being developed. Legitimacyrefers here to the compatibility of regulation with societalnorms and principles. Such 'output legitimacy' is importantin its own right in democracies, but also enhances thesuccess of policies as it facilitates regulatory enforcementand makes business compliance more likely. Moreover, byhelping policymakers take citizens into account, the designof regulation is less likely to be disproportionally influencedby business interests. Finally, by exploring the clarity ofcitizens' attitudes, the project contributes to a betterunderstanding of the feasibility and appropriateness ofcitizen engagement by regulators.