Avoiding a Tragedy of the Telecommons: Finding the Right Property Rights Regime for Telecommunications
In 1996, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act deregulating local phone service. It hoped that scrapping the older system of regulation would be conducive to encouraging competition and rapid technological innovation in the telecommunications industry. Eight years later, however, the telecommunications industry is hamstrung by extensive litigation between incumbents and competitors, declining investment rates, and sporadic efforts to deliver high-speed internet access to businesses and consumers. The consequences have been dramatic: since 2000, telecommunications service providers and equipment manufacturers have lost several hundred thousand jobs, over $1 trillion in market capitalization, and have seen their infrastructure investments decline by over $70 billion a year.
What went wrong? How do current FCC regulations fit into existing legal and economic analysis of property rights and ownership incentives? What more can the FCC do to encourage competition?
AGENDA
| 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM | Registration |
| 9:00 AM - 9:15 AM | Introductory Remarks Kevin Martin, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission |
| 9:15 AM -10:30 AM | Panel I: Fitting Telecommunications Regulation into the Property Law Paradigm Moderator: Drew Clark, Senior Writer, National Journal’s Technology Daily Richard Epstein, Professor, University of Chicago Law School Henry Smith, Professor, Yale University Law School Eric Claeys, Professor, St. Louis University Law School Panel Respondent: Matt Brill, Senior Legal Advisor to FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy |
| 10:40 AM - 11:55 AM | Panel II: TELRIC and UNE: How are Regulatory Incentives Affecting Competition and Investment? Moderator: Tim Ferguson, Editor, Forbes Global Thomas Hazlett, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Michael Heller, Professor, Columbia University Law School Respondent: Jay Lefkowitz, Former Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy; Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP |
| 12:00 NOON - 12:30 PM | Reception |
| 12:30 PM - 1:00 PM | Luncheon |
| 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM | KEYNOTE ADDRESS Kathleen Abernathy, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission |
212-599-7000
communications@manhattan-institute.org