Financial Power in Competition Policy as a Key Component of Modern Bigness

Abstract

At the sidelines of antitrust and competition law there have always existed theories that reach beyond the mere harms of market power and look at the effects of financial power or financial bigness. In light of the power currently held by the Big Tech giants, competition law has returned its attention to such effects and even introduced new (asymmetric) competition tools and regulations such as the Digital Markets Act and Section 19a of the German Competition Act that list financial power as an assessment criterion. Applying a broad definition, this contribution revisits diverse theories ranging from (antitrust) theories of bigness to the theory of financialisation, to understand the significance and influence of financial power. It then looks at legal avenues in competition law that allow the consideration of financial power in order to better understand this aspect of modern bigness and how it can be challenged.