You probably heard this one (or some variant) back in Econ 101: Suppose you’re the commissar for bread in some socialist paradise, and another apparatchik has already announced how many tons of flour you can bake this week. If you set the price of bread so low that everybody decides …
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By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Federal Communications Commission, Verizon Wireless | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
 Leave a commentWith the election approaching, it’s once again silly season on public policy (it seems to last longer than Major League Baseball these days). Hardly anybody running for office says what he means, or expects anybody to remember what he said after the ballots are counted. And, of course, this dead-end … All right, we’ll say it: We love Netflix, the company that has made it so easy to watch any of thousands of movies anywhere, with hardly a moment’s forethought. And we’re not alone. The company boasts close to 26 million subscribers in the United States and Canada, and it recently … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Antitrust, AT&T, Comcast, Federal Communications Commission, Net Neutrality, Netflix | Category: Internet regulation |
Leave a commentPerhaps it’s the air or the water. But something about Washington encourages the otherwise sane to talk jibberish even — no, especially — when the subject is markets. Or so it seems when reading some of the jeremiads against Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski’s recent proposal for ending the … A big question these days for smartphone users is whether telecommunications providers will continue to offer “all you can eat” data plans or switch to charging by the megabyte. The more important issue–at least from … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: 4G, AT&T, Comcast, Federal Communications Commission, smartphones, Verizon | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentAs part of the FCC’s National Broadband Report to Congress, Gregory Rosston, Scott Savage and Donald Waldman surveyed households to determine how much they would be willing to pay for specific features/attributes of broadband Internet service. Turns out that, across the board, people … The FCC is in the process of devising a National Broadband Strategy – something you should care about if you believe (as we do) that high-speed Internet is essential to increasing the productivity of the American economy. The commissioners’ focus is thus commendable. But we’re not enamored with the way … |
Professor Dieter Helm (Oxford) is a very fine fly fisherman, and an even better economist. If you haven’t done so, take a look at his new book “The Carbon Crunch: How We Are Getting Climate Change Wrong — and How to Fix It” for a bit of unconventional wisdom. He argues that politicians and the general public have not shown any real interest in addressing climate change. Helm argues that places like Europe should focus on setting a price for carbon that would cover consumption (and not just production), and that fracking could be a good “bridge” technology for reducing consumption of coal. The book is readable and insightful for those interested in the inside track on climate policy. 
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