The United States Department of Commerce, Technology Administration provided support to the Phoenix Center to study the causes and potential solutions of the Valley of Death for technology development in the United States under Study Contract No. SB1341-05-2-0023 administered by KT Consulting,...

In this paper, we examine the effectiveness of government spending on private-sector job growth. Rather than contemplate the average or typical effect of government stimulus on private-sector jobs, we divide the past fifty years of U.S. economic history into low-growth and high-growth periods....

One goal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“ARRA”) is to provide all Americans with access to affordable broadband services, particularly to those Americans living in rural markets where demand and cost conditions do not favor network deployment. At the same time, there...

Countries around the world are increasingly concerned as to whether the adoption of broadband technology by their respective citizens is sufficient to support economic growth and social development. Unfortunately, such concerns are often expressed in terms of where a country ranks among its...

In 1999, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) began to grant incumbent local exchange carriers (“LECs”) pricing flexibility on special access services in some Metropolitan Statistical Areas (“MSAs”) when specific evidence of competitive alternatives is present. The propriety...

In this article, we provide a focused economic analysis of the welfare effect of state and local regulation on communications services and, in particular, on the wireless segment of the telecommunications industry. We find that when local regulation in one jurisdiction has sufficiently large...

The Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) have launched a coordinated campaign to convince both policymakers and stakeholders that their financial woes are attributable to Congressionally-mandated Federal Communications Commission policies necessary to open local telecoms markets to...

An analysis of investment by telecommunications firms before and after the 1996 Telecommunications Act reveals substantial increases in the level of investment and capital stock for this sector following the enactment of this important legislation. There is no evidence that the 1996 Act reduced...

Today, a patchwork of regulation applies to the rates, terms, and conditions cable and telephone companies pay for access to poles, ducts, and conduits. Concerned about the differences in pole attachment rates paid by communications carriers, the Federal Communications Commission ('FCC') is...

In this paper, we consider the argument that Carterfone-type rules are required in response to mobile operators' use of term contracts, early termination fees, and allegedly restrictive handset certification and support policies. First, we show that such practices by mobile operators are...