The FCC’s Path to Populism: A Search for Relevancy in the Digital Age
George Washington University
Monday, July 11, 2016
12:00 PM to 2:30 PM (EDT)
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-fccs-path-to-populism-a-search-for-rele...
What do the Department of Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau all have in common? Any new regulation these agencies propose must undergo a rigorous economic analysis to determine whether the benefits of imposing the regulations outweigh the costs of doing so. As any wonk will tell you, cost-benefit analysis is a critical part of the policymaking process at all levels of government. And for decades, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) incorporated economics into its decision-making. However, as the industries the FCC was created to regulate have leapt out of their technical silos into a dynamically interconnected digital marketplace, the FCC has struggled to stay relevant.
In a series of rulemakings during the last several years, the agency’s disregard for cost-benefit analysis has led the agency to adopt a series of proposals that ignore the lessons of economics. Some would argue that that is business as usual and there will be little long-term impact on consumers, innovation or private investment. Others caution that the harms are very real because the FCC has been chipping away at the basis of economically grounded policies that have produced things like today’s commercial Internet and the country’s world-leading wireless broadband sector.
With regulatory oversight over a $1 trillion part of the U.S. economy, all would agree that the situation bears analysis. Is the FCC bereft of a mission and is it sacrificing sound policymaking in favor of populism to maintain its relevancy? And if yes, what can be done to re-inject sound analysis into this expert agency’s approach to crafting policy?
PARTICIPANTS
- Tim Brennan, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, University of Maryland Baltimore County; Former Chief Economist, Federal Communications Commission
- Gerald R. Faulhaber, Professor Emeritus of Business Economics and Public Policy, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Former Chief Economist, Federal Communications Commission
- Harold Feld, Senior Vice President, Public Knowledge
- Hal Singer, Principal, Economists Inc; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown McDonough School of Business; Senior Fellow, GW Institute of Public Policy
- Moderator: Brian Fung, Technology Reporter, The Washington Post
PROGRAM AGENDA
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm – Lunch
12:45 pm – 1:00 pm – Welcome Remarks
1:00 pm – 1:15 pm – Presentation of Excerpts from New Resarch by Gerald R. Faulhaber
1:15 pm – 2:15 pm – Panel Discussion
2:15 pm – 2:30 pm – Audience Q&A and Closing Remarks