Using the city's financial documents, the financial impact of Opelika-Alabama's municipal broadband network is calculated. In its five years of operation, the electric ratepayers have subsidized losses on the broadband services equal to $14 million. That cross-subsidy is projected to grow to $19...

In this paper I discuss serious flaws in a recently released study on copyright (“The User Rights Database: Measuring the Impact of Copyright Balance”) by American University Washington College of Law's Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property. Among other problems, the...

This comment reviews the Berkman Center's "Price Survey of Municipal Broadband Markets." Using theoretical arguments and statistical analysis, the Berkman Report is demonstrated to be defective and incomplete

When a pirated version of a copyrighted work is shared over the Internet, many online intermediaries may participate, exposing these firms to liability through legal concepts such as direct, contributory and vicarious infringement. Safe harbors largely shield intermediaries from “crippling...

In this paper, I aim to quantify the relationship between higher broadband speeds (10 Mbps versus 25 Mbps) and the growth rates in important economic outcomes in U.S. counties including jobs, personal income, and labor earnings. Doing so exposes the potential for severe selection bias in studies...

Using data on the prices paid by multichannel video programing distributors (“MVPDs”) for basic cable networks, I conduct a retrospective analysis of the price effects of the Comcast-NBCU merger. Estimates from both the difference-in-differences and lagged-dependent variable models indicate...

A large literature exists on the impact of disamenities, such as landfills and airports, on home prices. Less frequently analyzed is the effect of rock quarries on property values, and what little evidence is available is dated and conflicting. This question of price effects is a policy relevant...

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 attempt to shed light on an important policy question: Does the current way by which providers compensate each other for the exchange of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), wireless, local, and long distance calls inhibit broadband deployment? This question is timely, as the...

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...