The number of wireline providers in an area has an impact on broadband speeds available, illustrating that competition is important for stimulating investment in networks, explain Scott Wallsten and Colleen Mallahan in “Residential Broadband Competition in the United States,” a white paper drafted for the Federal Communications Commission’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative. Wallsten discussed their findings yesterday at the 38th Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy, sponsored by TPRC.
All Publications
Research Papers
Should the Government Prepare Individual Income Tax Returns?
Simplifying the complex U.S. tax code is the most direct way to reduce both the public and private costs of complying with the federal income tax, but tax reform is extraordinarily difficult to achieve. Some analysts have argued that return-free filing systems, such as those used in other countries and in the state of California, could substantially reduce the costs for many individual taxpayers with relatively simple returns at little or no net administrative cost to the government.
Press Releases
Return-Free Tax Filing Would not Result in Cost Savings
Adopting a return-free federal income tax system, or Simple Return, would introduce a host of challenges and would not result in overall cost savings, state Arlene Holen and Joseph Cordes in “Should the Government Prepare Individual Tax Returns?” released today by the Technology Policy Institute. The paper was submitted to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in response to the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board’s report to the President on options for changing the current tax system.
Press Releases
Event: Antitrust and the Dynamics of Competition in High-Tech Industries
Antitrust enforcement in technology industries is complex, in part because the sector is characterized by more or less continuous innovation. The global nature of the sector, combined with oversight by multiple enforcement agencies, also presents its own unique issues for antitrust policy. Given these complexities, how can antitrust policy be formulated to promote innovation in these dynamic sectors?
Commentaries and Op-Eds
The Future of Digital Communications Research and Policy
Over the past decade broadband has become nearly ubiquitously available to households and firms throughout the industrialized world. This rapid growth has spurred interest by policymakers and academics in understanding how public policies affect�and hopefully, encourage�investment and adoption. While such knowledge is useful, it is important to recognize that broadband investment and adoption are only inputs into societal well-being. We are ultimately interested in outputs: how does investment and use affect our standard of living and the economy more broadly?
Press Releases
Economic Impact of Broadband Difficult to Measure
While policymakers focus on driving residential broadband adoption as a key factor in economic recovery and growth, little research supports claims that such policies can have short-term economic effects, explains Scott Wallsten in “The Future of Digital Communications Research and Policy.” To assist policymakers, researchers should focus on the effects of broadband use in business to measure how the technology will impact productivity and, ultimately, in what ways it will shape the economy. The piece was first published in “The Future of Digital Communications: Policy Perspectives,” a collection of essays sponsored by Time Warner Cable, and will be published in the forthcoming volume of the Federal Communications Law Journal.