Still a series of tubes? The dynamic Internet and competition policy
Kevin A. Hassett, Christopher S. Yoo, Jeffrey Eisenach
January 16, 2013

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Event Summary

On Wednesday at AEI, experts discussed the rapid growth of the Internet and the implications of that growth for future policy and regulation. While presenting the key tenets of his new book, "The Dynamic Internet" (AEI Press, September 2012), Christopher Yoo described how the user base, technologies, devices, and business applications associated with the Internet are fundamentally different than they were when the Internet first entered the mainstream in the mid–1990s. Yoo emphasized that designing regulation based on a static view of the Internet would staunch the innovation that has made the network adaptable to ever-changing customer demands.

AEI's Jeff Eisenach also cautioned against predicting the Internet's future path, and stressed that broadband is characterized by dynamism, modularity, and network effects. He noted that though the broadband industry is similar to many other information technology (IT) industries, it is subject to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulation rather than anti-trust law. Given the similarities between the broadband and IT industries, Eisenach argued, FCC regulation discourages innovation.

Discussants Jonathan Nuechterlein of WilmerHale and Blair Levin of the Aspen Institute provided brief reactions to the presentations. Nuechterlein contended that the FCC frequently misses the key problem: that a one-size-fits-all approach to regulation will not work. Levin concluded that the FCC must make decisions, and described the FCC's theories of competition, public goods, and innovation that affect those decisions.
-- Brad Wassink

Event Description

Today's Internet is a far cry from the world of simple browsers and web pages that burst into the public consciousness in the mid-1990s. As Christopher Yoo explains in his new book titled "The Dynamic Internet," these changes have fundamental implications for public policy, including both communications regulation and antitrust policy.  The answer, as Yoo and AEI visiting scholar Jeffrey Eisenach will explain, is most definitely not to turn the Internet into a public utility, as some on the left are now recommending. Join us for a discussion of the policy implications of the dynamic Internet in 2013.

Books will be available for purchase.

If you are unable to attend, we welcome you to watch the event live on this page. Full video will be posted within 24 hours.

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About the Author

 

Kevin A.
Hassett
  • Before joining AEI, Mr. Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University, as well as a policy consultant to the Treasury Department during the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations. He served as an economic adviser to the George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign, chief economic adviser to Senator John McCain during the 2000 presidential primaries, senior economic adviser to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign, and economic adviser to the Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign.   Mr. Hassett is a columnist for National Review.

  • Phone: 202-862-7157
    Email: khassett@aei.org

  • Assistant Info

    Name: Emma Bennett
    Phone: 202-862-5862
    Email: emma.bennett@aei.org
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Christopher S.
Yoo

  • Christopher S. Yoo is the John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Yoo is also Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition and has emerged as one of the nation's leading authorities on law and technology. His research focuses on how the principles of network engineering and the economics of imperfect competition can provide insights into the regulation of electronic communications.

  • Phone: (215) 573-2025
    Email: csyoo@law.upenn.edu
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Jeffrey
Eisenach

  • Economist Jeffrey Eisenach has served in senior positions at the Federal Trade Commission and the Office of Management and Budget. As a visiting scholar at AEI, he focuses on policies affecting the information technology sector, innovation and entrepreneurship. Eisenach is also a managing director and a principal at Navigant Economics and an adjunct professor at the George Mason University School of Law, where he teaches Regulated Industries. He writes on a wide range of issues, including industrial organization, communications policy and the Internet, government regulations, labor economics and public finance. He has also taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. 

  • Phone: 202-448-9029
    Email: jeffrey.eisenach@aei.org
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