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Articles 1 - 26 of 26
Full-Text Articles in Economics
Residential And Business Broadband Prices Part 1: An Empirical Analysis Of Metering And Other Price Determinants, Scott J. Wallsten, James Riso
Residential And Business Broadband Prices Part 1: An Empirical Analysis Of Metering And Other Price Determinants, Scott J. Wallsten, James Riso
Scott J. Wallsten
For this project, we assemble a new dataset consisting of more than 25,000 residential and business broadband plans from all OECD countries from 2007–2009. We explore three issues: the relationship between plan components—such as metering—and consumer prices, price changes over time, and how broadband prices vary across countries.
This paper, part 1 of the project, discusses pricing for broadband plans and, specifically, the relationship between plan components and pricing. We find that residential broadband plans with data caps—plans in which consumers pay a base price for a set amount of data—cost less than plans with unlimited data, other things being …
Two Cheers For The Fcc's Mobility Fund Reverse Auction, Scott J. Wallsten
Two Cheers For The Fcc's Mobility Fund Reverse Auction, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
The United States held its first competitive bidding, or “reverse auction,” for universal service subsidies in September 2012. While it is far too early to investigate whether this national auction generated improvements in mobile voice and broadband service in underserved areas, it is not too soon to evaluate the auction itself. This paper investigates the outcome of the Mobility Fund Phase 1 Auction (Auction 901) and considers what we could learn from it for universal service and for future planned reverse auctions, such as the upcoming incentive auction, which aims to reallocate spectrum from broadcasters to those who place a …
Comments On The Verizon-Spectrumco Deal, Scott J. Wallsten
Comments On The Verizon-Spectrumco Deal, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Secondary Markets: The Quiet Economic Value Creator, John Mayo, Scott J. Wallsten
Secondary Markets: The Quiet Economic Value Creator, John Mayo, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
What Gets Measured Gets Done: Stop Focusing On Irrelevant Broadband Metrics, Scott J. Wallsten
What Gets Measured Gets Done: Stop Focusing On Irrelevant Broadband Metrics, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
Concerns regarding the state of U.S. broadband arises from a combination of focusing on the wrong metrics, a misguided interpretation of consumer preferences, and a popular obsession with rankings. These misperceptions translate into misdirected, if well-intentioned, public policies that waste scarce resources and distract from real issues like a large income-based digital divide.
How To Create A More Efficient Broadband Universal Service Program By Incorporating Demand And Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Scott J. Wallsten
How To Create A More Efficient Broadband Universal Service Program By Incorporating Demand And Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
The existing high-cost fund suffers from two inherent flaws: it does not incorporate how much consumers value the services being subsidized, and does not measure the incremental, rather than average, effects of the program. This paper proposes a way to incorporate those factors into the Connect America Fund—the proposed high-cost broadband support program—to enable it to operate more efficiently than the existing high-cost program ever could.
In particular, decisions about where to provide subsidies should be based on cost-effectiveness analyses that explicitly take into account not just the cost of providing service but also how much consumers would value the …
Secondary Spectrum Markets As Complements To Incentive Auctions, Scott J. Wallsten, John W. Mayo
Secondary Spectrum Markets As Complements To Incentive Auctions, Scott J. Wallsten, John W. Mayo
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
The Universal Service Fund: What Do High-Cost Subsidies Subsidize?, Scott J. Wallsten
The Universal Service Fund: What Do High-Cost Subsidies Subsidize?, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
The universal service program in the United States currently transfers about $7.5 billion per year from telephone subscribers to certain telephone companies. Those funds are intended to help achieve particular policy goals, such as subsidizing telephone service in rural areas and making phone service more affordable to low-income people. The bulk of the funds, about $4.5 billion per year, subsidizes firms operating in high-cost areas. A large literature documents the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of these subsidies, raising the question of where the money goes. This paper uses data submitted by about 1,400 recipients of high-cost subsidies from 1998 – 2008 …
The Future Of Digital Communications Research And Policy, Scott J. Wallsten
The Future Of Digital Communications Research And Policy, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Residential And Business Broadband Prices Part 2: International Comparisons, Scott J. Wallsten, James Riso
Residential And Business Broadband Prices Part 2: International Comparisons, Scott J. Wallsten, James Riso
Scott J. Wallsten
For this project, we assemble a new dataset consisting of more than 25,000 residential and business broadband plans from all OECD countries from 2007–2009. We explore three issues: the relationship between plan components—such as metering—and consumer prices, price changes over time, and how broadband prices vary across countries.
This paper, part 2 of the project, studies prices and price changes over time in the United States and other OECD countries. We find that residential prices in the U.S. remained fairly stable overall in this time period for both standalone and triple play (voice, video, and data) plans, though prices for …
Residential And Business Broadband Prices: Data Appendix, Scott J. Wallsten, James Riso
Residential And Business Broadband Prices: Data Appendix, Scott J. Wallsten, James Riso
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Residential Broadband Competition In The United States, Scott J. Wallsten, Colleen Mallahan
Residential Broadband Competition In The United States, Scott J. Wallsten, Colleen Mallahan
Scott J. Wallsten
This paper uses a new FCC dataset on residential broadband subscribership and speeds at the census tract level combined with data from a number of additional sources to explore the state of broadband competition in the U.S. and test the effects of competition on speeds, penetration, and prices.
We find that the number of wireline providers in a census tract is positively correlated with the highest available broadband speeds, even when controlling for housing density, household income, state fixed effects, and endogenizing the number of providers. That is, we find that DSL, cable, and fiber speeds are each significantly higher …
Understanding International Comparisons: 2009 Update, Scott J. Wallsten
Understanding International Comparisons: 2009 Update, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Testimony On Reforming The Universal Service High Cost Fund, Scott J. Wallsten
Testimony On Reforming The Universal Service High Cost Fund, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
The Need For Better Analysis Of High Capacity Services, George S. Ford, Lawrence J. Spiwak
The Need For Better Analysis Of High Capacity Services, George S. Ford, Lawrence J. Spiwak
GEORGE S FORD
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 of that deregulatory move by the FCC has been criticized by the purchasers of such services ever since. Proponents of special access price regulation rely on three central arguments to support a retreat to strict price regulation: (1) the market(s) for special access and similar services is unduly concentrated; (2) rates of return on special access services, computed using FCC ARMIS data, are …
The Dtv Coupon Program: A Boon To Retailers, Not Consumers, Scott J. Wallsten
The Dtv Coupon Program: A Boon To Retailers, Not Consumers, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Testimony For Fcc En Banc Hearing At Carnegie Mellon University On Broadband And The Digital Future, Scott J. Wallsten
Testimony For Fcc En Banc Hearing At Carnegie Mellon University On Broadband And The Digital Future, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Understanding International Broadband Comparisons, Scott J. Wallsten
Understanding International Broadband Comparisons, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Reverse Auctions And Universal Telecommunications Service: Lessons From Global Experience, Scott J. Wallsten
Reverse Auctions And Universal Telecommunications Service: Lessons From Global Experience, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
The United States now spends around $7 billion on universal service programs—subsidies intended to ensure that the entire country has access to telecommunications services. Most of this money supports telecommunications service in “high cost” (primarily rural) areas, and the High Cost fund is growing quickly. In response to this growth, policymakers are considering using reverse auctions, or bids for the minimum subsidy, as a way to reduce expenditures. While the U.S. has not yet distributed funds for universal service programs using reverse auctions, the method has been used widely. First, reverse auctions are akin to standard government procurement procedures, which …
The Economics Of Pacific Bell V. Linkline Communications, Scott J. Wallsten
The Economics Of Pacific Bell V. Linkline Communications, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Testimony On Broadband To Senate Committee On Small Business And Entrepreneurship, Scott J. Wallsten
Testimony On Broadband To Senate Committee On Small Business And Entrepreneurship, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
A Regulatory Play In Two Acts, Scott J. Wallsten
A Regulatory Play In Two Acts, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Broadband And Unbundling Regulations In Oecd Countries, Scott J. Wallsten
Broadband And Unbundling Regulations In Oecd Countries, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
Broadband penetration and available speeds vary widely across OECD countries. Policymakers around the world, and especially in countries like the U.S. that lag in the rankings, are searching for policies to narrow those gaps. Relatively little empirical work tests possible reasons for these differences. In this paper I test the impacts of regulations and demographics on broadband development in a panel dataset across countries. In addition to adding to the meager empirical literature on broadband across countries, this paper is novel in two ways. First, it explicitly takes into account the many different types of unbundling regulations that countries have …
Telecommunications Regulation In U.S. States: Its Rise And Impacts In The Early Twentieth Century, Scott J. Wallsten
Telecommunications Regulation In U.S. States: Its Rise And Impacts In The Early Twentieth Century, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Universal Telecommunications Service In India, Roger G. Noll, Scott J. Wallsten
Universal Telecommunications Service In India, Roger G. Noll, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.
Broadband Penetration: An Empirical Analysis Of State And Federal Policies, Scott J. Wallsten
Broadband Penetration: An Empirical Analysis Of State And Federal Policies, Scott J. Wallsten
Scott J. Wallsten
No abstract provided.