Restructuring the US telecommunications industry: Impact on innovation

Plans for restructuring the US telecommunications corporation, AT & T have been discussed recently. The fear has been expressed that such restructuring would be harmful to innovation and technical progress in the industry, and hence ultimately harmful to the USA. This article addresses that question in the context of proposed legislative changes to the 1934 Communications Act. Existing economic evidence suggests that these fears are unfounded. Arguments relating to firm size (the 'Schumpeterian hypothesis'), concentrated industry structure, and regulation suggest that the proposed changes would increase rather than decrease innovative activity.