Dear Chairman Wheeler: Congratulations on your confirmation as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. As economists who study and write about communications policy and regulation, we agree with your comment during your confirmation hearing that “the role of the FCC has evolved from...

Fifteen scholars on auctions and telecommunications regulation urge the FCC to cancel bids made in, or permit winning bidders to opt out of, the reauction of the NextWave licenses in Auction 35. For auctions to function efficiently, buyers and sellers must follow basic rules, including the rule...

Recently, real and artificial barriers to international transactions have fallen sharply, causing a rise in the overall volume of international trade. East Asia has been particularly affected by the economic stresses and gains derived from deregulation. Deregulation and Interdependence in the...

In February 2007, Industry Canada released a consultation that outlines its auction design for spectrum for Advanced Wireless Services. As part of its consultation, Industry Canada has contemplated the value of a spectrum set-aside in the AWS auction to facilitate the entry of a new wireless...

This paper analyzes the contribution of the computer and video gaming industry ( entertainment software ) to the U.S. economy. In 2005, revenues for entertainment software products and directly related accessories were $10.5 billion. By definition, every dollar spent on entertainment software in...

As we understand it, the D.C. Circuit did not allow the EPA to consider the costs of complying with ozone and PM NAAQS. As we further understand it, this legal ruling can be overturned only by this Court. As economists, we believe that the D.C. Circuit's ruling not allowing the EPA to consider...

When a person uses the traditional wireline telephone network to call another person on his cell phone, the fixed network must transfer the call to the mobile network to which the recipient subscribes. The fixed network is said to have provided originating access for the call, and the mobile...

Considerable controversy has arisen around the recent U.S. District Court decision that ordered vertical divestiture of Microsoft as a remedy for its violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. In this paper, I look back over more than a century of Sherman Act case law to see how frequently...