China's ride-hailing and taxi drivers work longer hours for less pay

Jan 14, 2025
More drivers are joining ride-booking apps at a time when there is less demand for their services.
Ride-hailing driver Ling Zhijun charges his electric vehicle. He is among the millions who joined the ride-booking sector after he lost his job.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Some families drop out of China's education rat race

Jul 8, 2024
Seeking balance and well-being, urbanites pull their kids out of the country's ultracompetitive system and head to village schools.
Eight-year-old A Wu plays during lunchtime in Sizhai village. He had struggled at a big-city school, so his family relocated.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

Another cure for inflation? Making markets more competitive.

Apr 1, 2022
Companies facing few competitors can hike prices more easily than those in competitive markets.
"I like to say that we're not doing something new, we're doing something that people have done for thousands of years, which is use everything that's grown and not throw it out," says Anna Hammond, founder of Matriark Foods.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Europe takes aim at Big Tech's "gatekeepers"

Mar 25, 2022
Could the Digital Markets Act set a global standard?
Big technology firms face new rules and regulations in the EU.
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The delivery-only method for Kroger comes with some risk, especially in such a competitive market.
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Biden considers order to use regulatory power to boost competition

Jun 30, 2021
The targets: industries with just a few dominant companies.
The Biden administration might act to strengthen the positions of smaller companies in industries dominated by a small number of giants.
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Chinese students, parents stressed by demands of extracurricular classes

Jun 9, 2021
Academic competition pressures families to enroll children in tutoring courses. But some parents are resisting.
Fifth-grader Ziyou cracks under pressure in "A Love for Dilemma," a Chinese TV series about the education rat race.
"A Love for Dilemma"

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EU seeks to raise the drawbridge on companies that get foreign subsidies

May 5, 2021
It's an attempt to gain leverage over China.
European leaders are increasingly worried that China’s state-dominated economic system is threatening companies in their own countries.
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Small business coalition says Amazon brands are unfair competition

Apr 6, 2021
"It's a basic conflict of interest," says one small-biz advocate.
Is Amazon selling its products alongside small businesses' healthy competition or a conflict of interest?
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Market concentration and low competition has become the new normal in America

Dec 17, 2019
NYU finance professor Thomas Philippon argues that U.S. markets are no longer as free and competitive as they were a few decades ago.
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