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What's Up Monthly
January 20, 2025 ｜ vol. 29
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Improving Regulations on Abuse of Superior Bargaining Position by Digital Platforms
Digital platforms now play a central role in connecting consumers and businesses. As their influence grows, concerns about unfair practices have intensified. Recent cases involving delivery apps, e-commerce marketplaces, and content platforms show that traditional regulatory tools are increasingly ill-suited for today’s platform-driven transactions. New analysis points to two core issues that complicate regulation: identifying who is harmed and understanding how platform conduct can generate both losses and gains across different user groups.
Challenges in Identifying Harm
Under current rules, regulators must specify each harmed party to establish abuse of superior bargaining position. This requirement worked for traditional one-to-one transactions but fails to reflect how platforms operate. Platforms set general rules that apply to large groups of business users at once. When harm spreads broadly across vendors, case-by-case identification is impractical and may prevent meaningful enforcement. The study argues that this constraint does not match the economic reality of platform ecosystems, where rule-setting authority is both the source of potential abuse and a mechanism that limits individualized exploitation.
Efficiency Effects Often Overlooked
Platform conduct that appears exploitative for some users can generate direct benefits for others. Because platforms act as intermediaries in multi-sided markets, changes in trading terms often have immediate effects on consumers or other business users. For instance, higher commissions for one group may finance discounts or better services for another. Platforms also create efficiency gains by leveraging data to improve matches and user experience. Current regulations do not account for these dynamics, making it difficult to fully assess the welfare impact of platform practices.
Toward a Hybrid Regulatory Framework
To ensure fairness in the digital economy, the report calls for a pragmatic evolution of the current system:
- Refining the framework for a superior bargaining position
Platform-wide rule-setting makes individual victim identification unrealistic. Regulation should ease this requirement, assess broader impacts on trade practices, and account for efficiency effects that benefit other user groups.
- Shifting toward market-dominant position regulation
Because platforms exercise rule-making authority that resembles market dominance, Korea should consider applying elements of the market-dominance framework, including evaluating exploitative conduct based on platforms’ ability to change trading terms.
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KDI Monthly Economic Trends January 2026
Korea’s economy maintained a modest recovery as improving consumption offset persistent weakness in construction and a recent adjustment in manufacturing. Semiconductor exports continued to post strong growth, but largely due to sharp price increases, while the earlier surge in semiconductor production has eased. Manufacturing outside semiconductors also showed only mild gains, keeping overall sentiment subdued. Even so, retail sales and service-sector activity continued to recover amid firm consumer confidence and improving non-manufacturing business sentiment, with service-sector hiring continuing to support overall employment, despite declines in construction and manufacturing.
- Read more
- Insights at a glance
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The study examines mounting pressures on Korea’s national health insurance system as traditional financing tools become increasingly unsustainable. Drawing on empirical analysis, it shows that rising service prices, particularly in local primary care clinics, are the main driver of expenditure growth, outweighing changes in utilization. The report highlights the need to strengthen the role of primary care through payment reform and to establish a more robust framework for reviewing health insurance spending.
- Watch the full video
- Read the full written report
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Toward High-Integrity Carbon Markets: Insights from the Global Carbon Market Investment Forum
The Global Carbon Market Investment Forum, hosted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) and organized by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), was held on December 11–12 at the Global Knowledge Exchange & Development Center (GKEDC) under the theme “A Pathway for a Carbon Market Aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.” Bringing together around 200 participants from major international climate organizations, including the UNFCCC, GCF, and GGGI, as well as multilateral development banks such as the WB, ADB, AIIB, and AfDB, the Forum also welcomed government officials from partner countries and private sector experts. Discussions centered on strengthening the credibility, transparency, and investment potential of international carbon markets.
The Forum contributed to a shared strategic direction for developing high-integrity, Article 6–aligned carbon markets and reaffirmed the importance of technology, policy, and finance working in tandem to support global emissions-reduction efforts.
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On Empowering MSMEs: 2025 KDI–LPEM 2nd Joint Seminar
KDI and LPEM held their second joint seminar in Jakarta on December 11, focusing on policy pathways to strengthen Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) innovation. Building on last discussions on global value chains, this year’s seminar examined practical strategies to help MSMEs move beyond basic investment support and toward sustained technology adoption and innovative capacity. Experts from Korea, Indonesia, and ASEAN highlighted the importance of targeted financial tools, digital transformation, and more effective program evaluation, underscoring the need for policies that foster long-term productivity and inclusive growth.
Program and presentation materials are available here.
- Watch the seminar highlights
- Read more
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