The costs of regulation.(ECONOMICS AND REGULATION)(Brief Article)

Jerry Ellig, "Costs and Consequences of Federal Telecommunications and Broadband Regulations," Mercatus Center Working Paper, February 2005 (mercatus.org)

Americans love their high-tech communications gadgets and have benefited from falling prices in broadband Internet and cell phone service. But are they still paying too much? Yes, says Mercatus Center fellow Jerry Ellig. The culprit, however, is not monopolistic service providers, but costly government regulation.

Examining the effects of economic regulation on telecommunications service in the U.S., Ellig finds that government has cost consumers up to $105 billion annually in higher prices and foregone services. The most harmful of all the federal communications ...