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Surprise! The FCC Has Been Collecting Broadband Price Data for Years

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It is conventional wisdom that the FCC is ignorant of broadband prices. In 2020, for example, the New America Foundation stated unambiguously that “no government agency collects data on internet prices.” To rectify this problem, the Klobuchar-Clyburn bill directs “the FCC to collect and publicize data on prices charged for broadband service throughout the country.” There’s just one problem. That claim is incorrect. Since 2014, the FCC has collected detailed price data on nearly 24,000 broadband plans through its “Urban Rate Survey.” The FCC uses the survey data to “determine […]

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“Jon Baron on Evidence Based Policy at Arnold Ventures” (Two Think Minimum)

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Two Think Minimum · Jon Baron on Evidence Based Policy at Arnold Ventures Bob Hahn: Hello, and welcome to the Technology Policy Institute’s podcast, Two Think Minimum. I’m your host, Bob Hahn, and today we’re delighted to speak with Jon Baron. Jon is Vice-President of Evidence-Based Policy at Arnold Ventures. Before that, he founded the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, which worked with federal policy officials to advance evidence-based reform, and I feel particularly honored to have Jon here because he’s on the front lines of the evidence-based policy, I was going […]

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“Ronald Coase Institute President Mary Shirley on Institutions and Economic Development” (Two Think Minimum)

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Two Think Minimum · Ronald Coase Institute President Mary Shirley on Institutions and Economic Development Scott Wallsten: Hi, and welcome back to Two Think Minimum, the Technology Policy Institute’s podcast. I’m Scott Wallsten, President and Senior Fellow at TPI, and I’m here with my co-host, TPI Senior Fellow Sarah Oh. Today, we’re delighted to have Dr. Mary Shirley on the show. Mary is President of the Ronald Coase Institute, a nonprofit organization working to improve knowledge of institutions and to build the capacity of young scholars to analyze and overcome institutional […]

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You’ve Been Served: Defining Broadband as 100/100 is not 💯

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The pandemic has caused the U.S. to take seriously the question of how to make sure all residents have broadband access for remote learning, telehealth, government services, work, job training, and other activities necessary to participate fully in society. Unfortunately, the push to define broadband as a connection capable of running 20 HD Netflix streams simultaneously threatens to thwart the more important objective. Specifically, the calls to define broadband as a connection offering symmetric, 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload bandwidth (100/100) are arbitrary, with no evidence supporting these […]

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“What We Know and What We Don’t Know” (Two Think Minimum)

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Two Think Minimum · What We Know And What We Don't Know Scott Wallsten: Hi, and welcome back to Two Think Minimum, the Technology Policy Institute’s podcast. Today is Wednesday, March 17th, 2021. I’m Scott Wallsten, President and Senior Fellow of the Technology Policy Institute. I am joined by Tom Lenard, Senior Fellow and President of Emeritus at TPI, and Sarah Oh, Senior Fellow at TPI. Today, we’re just going to take stock of the tech policy landscape. We’ll talk mostly about the $1.9 trillion stimulus and a little bit […]

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“Jeff Prince on Economics at the FCC and Platforms” (Two Think Minimum)

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Two Think Minimum · Jeff Prince on Economics at the FCC and Platforms Scott Wallsten: Welcome to Two Think Minimum, the Technology Policy Institute’s podcast. I’m Scott Wallsten, President and Senior Fellow at TPI. I’m here with my co-host Sarah Oh, who is a Senior Fellow at TPI, and today we’re delighted to be talking with Jeff Prince. Jeff is Professor and Chair of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. He’s also the Harold A. Poling Chair in Strategic Management and Co-Director of […]

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“Thomas Hazlett on Spectrum Policy” (Two Think Minimum)

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Two Think Minimum · Thomas Hazlett on Spectrum Policy Today, we are delighted to have Professor Tom Hazlett. Tom was one of our very first guests back when we launched the podcast, and we’re delighted to have him back for an encore performance. He holds the H.H. McCaulay Endowed Chair in Economics at Clemson and also serves as the Director of Clemson’s Information Economy Project. He studies law and economics specializing in the information economy. He served as Chief Economist at the FCC and has held faculty positions at UC […]

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COVID-19 is Narrowing the Digital Divide

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The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of broadband connections and the ways that not being connected can worsen inequality. While policymakers struggle to find effective methods of increasing adoption, the pandemic itself appears to have helped make some strides in closing the divide. Specifically, based on data from the largest ISPs’ quarterly 10Q SEC filings, the upward trend in the number of fixed line connections accelerated once the pandemic began, as the figure below shows. From Q3 2011 through Q3 2019, the number of fixed connections from these companies […]

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“Gus Hurwitz on the Rural Digital Divide and Platforms” (Two Think Minimum)

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Two Think Minimum · Gus Hurwitz on the Rural Digital Divide and Platforms Dr. Sarah Oh: Welcome back to Two Think Minimum. I’m Sarah Oh, Senior Fellow of the Technology Policy Institute, and I’m joined by Scott Walston, President and Senior Fellow of the Technology Policy Institute. Today is Thursday, January 28th, 2021, and we are delighted to have Professor Gus Hurwitz joining us.  Professor Justin Gus Hurwitz is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska, where he is also the Menard Director of the Nebraska Governance and […]

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