Economists Speak Out Against Regulation

by on March 10, 2006

The AEI-Brookings Joint Center on Regulation yesterday released a statement by 25 top economists on broadband reform. The economists–an impressive group including airline deregulation pioneers Alfred Kahn and Elizabeth Bailey, former CEA member Richard Schmalensee, and FCC veterans Tom Hazlett, Greg Rosston and Howard Shelanski–make two recommendations:

1. Congress should eliminate local cable franchising regulations; and
2. Congress and the FCC should make more spectrum available to private parties, and allow them to use it or trade the right to use it, so that it will go to its highest-valued uses.

The bottom line, according to the group: “…investment in broadband should be as easy as possible. Regulations that primarily protect incumbents or serve as barriers to entry should be removed.”

Worth reading.

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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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