Shaffer: Trade Law in a Data-Driven Economy: The Need for Modesty and Resilience

Gregory Shaffer (Univ. of California, Irvine - Law) has posted Trade Law in a Data-Driven Economy: The Need for Modesty and Resilience. Here's the abstract:

This article is in four parts. Part I introduces the transformative nature of innovation in the data-driven economy. Part II presents the severe challenges posed by this development, including its contribution to monopolization, inequality, social control through surveillance, geopolitical competition between the United States and China, and system vulnerability. Part III assesses the current trade negotiating context involving competing models advanced by the United States (advocating free data flow), the European Union (promoting privacy regulation), and China (stressing sovereignty and the facilitation of trade in goods through e-commerce). Part IV presents a governance framework that calls for modesty in recognition of national differences and the severe challenges posed, while building institutions to foster deliberation and learning in light of uncertainty.