This study examines the impact of telecommunications regulatory policy on broadband service deployment. Using U.S. data covering all forms of access technology (chiefly DSL and cable modem) and all areas served by major carriers, we investigate the impact of state and federal regulation on...

We examine the gap in broadband access to the Internet between minority groups and white households with geographically fine data on DSL subscription. In addition to income and demographics, we also examine quality of service and competition as components of the Digital Divide. The gaps in DSL...

We examine the supply of DSL broadband by the incumbent local exchange company (LEC) in five U.S. states in the earlier years of deployment. Our empirical analysis shows that income, other demographics, and cost factors are important determinants of entry and availability, and thus, the supply...

Tobacco smoking harms health. Taxes and regulations can reduce that harm. But evasion reduces the efficacy of taxes and regulations and creates harms of its own in the form of illicit markets. Enforcement can reduce evasion but creates additional harms, including incarceration and violence....

What is the “growth penalty” when a country’s entrepreneurship deviates from its optimal level? We use data on entrepreneurship for a panel of developed and developing countries over 2003-2011 to estimate growth equations. We treat the impact of entrepreneurship on real GDP growth as...

We conduct a basic analysis of entry and exit in the US broadband market, using a complete FCC census of providers from 2005 to 2008. There is a tremendous amount of (simultaneous) entry and exit in the US broadband market. Most entry is from existing providers expanding into new geographic...

We examine citizen engagement in political and social civic life in California. We begin by comparing the state to the nation at large, and find that California lags the nation in non-electoral civic engagement. The data also show that Whites were more engaged than Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians,...

Our study extends the empirical literature on whether vertical restraints are anticompetitive. We focus on exclusive contracting in platform markets, which feature indirect network effects and thus are susceptible to applications barriers to entry. Theory suggests that exclusive contracts in...

Cigarettes are highly taxed in Europe to discourage tobacco use and to fund public-health measures to mitigate the harms from tobacco consumption. At higher prices (more precisely, at higher differentials between licit and black-market prices) consumers substitute more toward illicit cigarettes....

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) spent $4.7B during 2009-2013 to, int. al, increase broadband adoption in underserved communities. We characterize the BTOP grants and examine the impact of the awards on broadband adoption....