New study of broadband stimulus is not so independent

[Commentary] The National Telecommunications and Information Administration recently released a study evaluating its implementation of its $4.7 billion broadband stimulus program (the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, or BTOP). The NTIA paid ASR Analytics $5 million to do the study, which it touts as "independent." A careful read of the report, however, shows that the most important part of the study was not at all independent: the choice of which BTOP awards to study.

Here's the problem. The report evaluated only a sample of counties that hosted BTOP projects. That would be fine if the sample were random, but it wasn't. Instead, as ASR’s interim report says twice, "NTIA selected these projects for inclusion in the evaluation study at the beginning of the study." Not the independent evaluator, but the NTIA -- the very entity supposedly being evaluated. We still have little rigorous, empirical information about the effectiveness of the $7.2 billion the stimulus allocated to broadband. But we do have further evidence that self-evaluation is unlikely to yield a truly independent review, even if you call it "independent" in a press release.

[Scott Wallsten is Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute]