Chairman Pai Remarks at the Resurgent Conference

It is sometimes hard for government to be on the side of innovation. Before change occurs, it’s often easier to identify and focus on those who will be hurt than those who will be helped, even if far more people will be helped in the end. Or to paraphrase the French economist Frédéric Bastiat, policymakers have a destructive habit of focusing on that which is seen, without acknowledging that which is not seen. Instead of viewing innovation as a problem to be regulated based on rules from the past, government should see innovation’s potential, guided by markets that embrace the future. Government can best serve the public interest through regulatory humility. This means making an honest assessment of where the market is, recognizing that government can’t predict and shouldn’t micromanage the future, and getting rid of the red tape that stifles innovation and progress. Here’s the bottom line. Whenever a technological innovation creates uncertainty, some will always have the knee-jerk reaction to presume it’s bad. They’ll demand that we do whatever’s necessary to maintain the status quo. Strangle it with a study. Call for a commission. Bemoan those supposedly left behind. Stipulate absolute certainty. Regulate new services with the paradigms of old. But we should resist that temptation. “Guilty until proven innocent” is not a recipe for innovation, and it doesn’t make consumers better off. History tells us that it is not preemptive regulation, but permissionless innovation made possible by competitive free markets that best guarantees consumer welfare. A future enabled by the next generation of technology can be bright, if only we choose to let the light in.