Aifang Ma, alumna of the Master in European Affairs, winner of a Laura Bassi scholarship

Article originally published on the website of the Sciences Po Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics.

Aifang Ma,  alumna (Master in European Affairs 2016, PhD 2022) and associate researcher with the CEE, just received a Laura Bassi scholarship for editorial assistance on an academic article comparing the anti-trust regulation of digital economies in the USA, China, and the EU.

Currently a Lecturer and a Boya Post-doctoral Fellow at Peking University (China), Aifang Ma leads a comparative research programme on the antitrust regulation of economy in the USA, China, and the EU. She argues for a regulatory convergence over time along 3 dimensions: objectives, approaches, and interactive patterns between regulators and regulated firms. She identifies 3 explanatory factors: first, due to the globalisation of the digital economy, large platforms increasingly adopt similar growth paths and therefore create similar dilemmas for national governments. Second, the regulatory power of states increasingly matters in the geopolitical competition. Third, tech firms are becoming more cooperative towards regulators, whose intervention is, in addition, gaining wide support from citizens. A novel approach in the study of antitrust regulation in the digital economy, this comparative study could benefit policymakers dealing with digital regulation elsewhere in the world.

The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established in 2018 by Editing Press. It aims to provide editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed, within their disciplines.

In addition, Aifang Ma succeeded in being admitted into the 2024 CyberBRICS Fellowship Programme hosted at the Center for Technology and Society of Fundação Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro.

Learn more

• The Master in European Affairs at the School of Public Affairs
• Laura Bassi scholarship
• Aifang Ma’s personal page