Industrial strategy in a transforming capitalism

Abstract Monopoly capitalism stressed the inevitable tendency of monopolisation of economies based on market capitalism, due to the strategic behaviour of firms aiming at reducing competition and preventing entry. The growth of Big Tech in the last decades just confirms this result. However, the digital economy and the development of online platforms reflect deep economic transformations, whereby the nature of competition in markets considerably changes. This paper shows that Cowling’s insights are not undermined as a result, rather the contrary. In particular, we suggest that industrial strategy in the digital economy could be usefully focused on economic governance, as suggested by Cowling. The new regulatory paradigm proposed in the EU with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) seems to follow this suggestion.