This book applies new advances in economic theory regarding the asymmetry of information between firms and their regulators to the design of improved telecommunications regulation.

Regulators and policymakers are struggling to keep up with rapid changes in the telecommunications industry. Policies toward telecommunications can dramatically affect innovation, consumers, and overall economic growth. This conference will address two key issues: first, whether regulations should guarantee what advocates call “net-neutrality,” which would restrict how Internet...

This conference, jointly sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute and the University of Southern California Center for Communications Law and Policy, will examine from the perspective of both economics and politics how the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has delivered on its promises. In particular, participants will discuss whether the...

The Obama administration is suing to block the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA. Lawyers at the Department of Justice argue that the marriage of the second and fourth largest wireless carriers will reduce competition. It is clear from the complaint filed by the government that the lawyers at DOJ do not fully understand the present state of wireless competition.

How well did theTelecommunications Act of 1996 respond to consumer demands?

The tenth anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in early February provides an opportunity to reexamine the Act and current proposals to replace it. The 1996 law was the first successful attempt to rewrite the sixty-two-year-old Communications Act of 1934 and it has been criticized as being vague and...

Indeed, price controls are one of the most pernicious kinds of government regulation. In an ironic twist, they often lead to higher consumer prices over time because they build inefficiencies into economic transactions and decision-making that end up costing consumers more money in the long run.