China is experiencing a phenomenal expansion of platform economy fuelled by the advancement of information and communication technologies. It has become a global fron- trunner in many sectors, including commerce, finance, and entertainment. A comprehen- sive law and policy narrative, however, is largely absent from English academic literature. This paper seeks to fill this gap by analysing the dynamic relationship of industrial devel- opment, policy engagement and regulation construction in one of the prime sectors of platform economy: Electronic Commerce (E-commerce). China’s E-commerce market rose to global dominance shortly after its origination in the mid-1990s. This paper holds that such an expeditious ascendency is nourished by carefully designed public policies. To implement these policies, also to redress information asymmetries and other pertinacious market failures, a tailored regulatory paradigm has been instigated. This regulatory paradigm manifests a new mode of polycentric, participatory, and collaborative governance that strives to balance interest disparities between various stakeholders. The dynamic relationship exem- plified in China’s E-commerce market would provide a valuable indication for administering other sectors of platform economy not only in China but also across other jurisdictions that openly embrace commercial innovations in the context of information technological trans- formation.
Chuanman You
EW Barker Centre for Law & Business, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, Singapore