The New Goliaths

In this book, James Bessen argues that leading firms in various industries have achieved and sustained their dominance through investments in proprietary software, which smaller firms cannot match.

This leads to a slowdown in innovation and increased income inequality.

Bessen proposes that compelling these corporations to share their technology, data, and knowledge could reinvigorate economic competition without breaking up the corporate giants.

The book provides a detailed analysis supported by extensive empirical work in industrial organization and highlights the challenges in regulating systemic and existential risks associated with complex proprietary IT systems.