Antitrust in the Digital Age: The Fight for the Buy Box

How does Amazon decide which sellers appear at the top of your search results? In this episode, we examine the role of marketplace ranking systems and the "Buy Box" in shaping competition. We discuss how platform visibility acts as a form of conduct that can dictate sales outcomes, often creating a self-reinforcing loop that rewards established players while making it difficult for new entrants to compete on quality or price alone. We also look ahead to how these same dynamics might play out in social media feeds. If you’d like to see the diagrams we discussed or read the full text of this analysis, the complete post is live at This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.econworks.com/subscribe