A Trillion Here, A Trillion There: Counting the Benefits of Broadband

by on December 8, 2005 · 4 comments

The New Milenium Research Council today released a study on the benefits of broadband, which finds almost $1 trillion in benefits related to elderly and disabled Americans alone. Its a pretty good study, authored by Brooking’s Robert Litan. Overall, a good contribution to the debate, underscoring the importance of this technology. Of course, the number is just an estimate (as Litan himself says), since so many of the benefits of quick and easy Internet access just aren’t quantifiable. For instance, how do you value the innovations that haven’t yet been innovated? The analysis in the paper gives a pretty good sense of this unpredictablity. The report is worth reading and is sure to come up often in broadband policy debates.

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James Gattuso / James Gattuso is a Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy in the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Gattuso also leads the Enterprise and Free Markets Initiative at Heritage, with responsiblity for a range of regulatory and market issues. Prior to joining Heritage, he served as Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and also as Vice President for Policy Development with Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). From 1990 to 1993, he was Deputy Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy at the Federal Communications Commission. From May 1991 to June 1992, he was detailed from the FCC to the office of Vice President Dan Quayle, where he served as Associate Director of the President's Council on Competitiveness. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Dana, 8 year-old son, Peter (whom he relies upon to operate his VCR), and his four year-old daughter Lindsey (who does the DVD player.) He has no known hobbies, but is not nearly as boring as he seems.

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