This thesis explores the intersection of political economy, digital transformation, and platform economy. The ultimate goal is to lay a foundation that helps to design the digital platform landscape in a way that it fosters digital sustainability and prevents negative externalities of platform economy, e. g., through monopolies like Amazon or Google. The idea for the thesis revolves around the overarching theme of “sustainability in the platform economy”. The work will use transaction cost theory as a theoretical lense. The goal is to analyze how digitalization reduces transaction costs, study the connection of this to the rise of platform monopolies, and investigate the need and the areas of need for public or non-profit platforms to maintain sustainability. This interdisciplinary topic is ideal for students interested in political economy, sustainability, and the evolving digital landscape.

If you are interested, please contact Lea Kuhlmann from the Offis: lea.kuhlmann@offis.de 

Literature reviews build the foundation for this planned work.  The need and the areas of need for public or non-profit platforms to maintain sustainability are proposed to be additionally investigated through qualitative methods such as case studies and interviews. The scope depends on if its a bachelor or master thesis and will be defined individually.

The descriptions of the planned work are work in progress, feel free to approach me with your own ideas and adaptations of the proposed topic.

A general interest in platform economy and sustainability.