Telecommunication Policy for the Information Age - From Monopoly to Competition

Informationen zum Autor Gerald W. Brock is Professor of Telecommunication and Director of the Graduate Telecommunication Program at George Washington University, and was previously Common Carrier Bureau Chief at the Federal Communications Commission. Klappentext Will the rush of the information super-highway leave U.S. telecommunication policy in the dust - or will our policy keep pace with and effectively regulate the future of telecommunication? Former FCC Bureau Chief Gerald Brock argues that the existing agencies with overlapping responsibilities can set policies that will wisely steer the telecommunication industry through the high-speed changes just around the corner. Brock develops a new theory of decentralized public decision-making and uses it to clarify the dramatic changes that have transformed the industry from a heavily regulated monopoly to a set of market-oriented finds. In a uniquely authoritative! up-to-date history of telecommunication policy - informed in part by his firsthand experience - the author looks at decisions made by the FCC! state regulatory agencies! the Department of Justice! Congress! and federal courts. He demonstrates how the decentralized decision-making process - whose apparent element of chaos has so often invited criticism - has actually made the United States a world leader in reforming telecommunication policy. Brock traces the flow of information through the bureaucratic web that regulated the divestiture and earlier transitions! such as the first monopoly-eroding attachment of terminal equipment and the development of private microwave systems. Throughout his analysis! Brock convincingly shows that decentralized policymaking generates rational outcomes consistent with public preferences. Replete with details on the role of subsidies in influencing policy! and including in-depth analysis of events after the divestiture! this study could regenerate U.S. policymaking in telecommunication and other publicrealms. It will be essential reading for everyone interested in the current debate over President Clinton's proposals concerning the information infrastructure! for all architects of public policy! and for those who study it. Zusammenfassung Gerald Brock develops a new theory of decentralized public decisionmaking and uses it to clarify the dramatic changes that have transformed the telecommunication industry from a heavily regulated monopoly to a set of market-oriented firms. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction Positive Results of the Decentralized Process Potential Benefits of a Decentralized Policy Process Plan of the Book Perspectives on the Policy Process Blackstone versus Bentham Landis versus Stigler Information Economics and Transaction Costs Preferences and Principles A Model of the Decentralized Policy Process The Coordination of Decentralized Public Policy and of Scientific Research The Structure of the Decentralized Policy Model Examples of the Decentralized Policy Model Institutions of Telecommunication Policy The Communications Act of 1934 The Structure of the FCC Non-FCC Policy Institutions Economic Characteristics of the Telecommunication Industry The Development of Telephone Monopoly Regulation and the Sharing of Toll Revenue The 1956 Consent Decree Interconnection and the Network Externality THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITION Competition in Terminal Equipment Hush-A-Phone Carterfone Protective Connecting Arrangements Opposition to Terminal Competition Computer II and Detariffing Initial Long Distance Competition Bulk Private Service: "Above 890" MCI Initial Application Specialized Common Carrier Competition Interconnection and Long Distance Competition The Private Line Interconnection Controversy AT&T's Rate Response to Private Line Competition Execunet and Switched Services Competition Interconnection Charges: ENFIA Competition un...

Product details

• Authors: Gerald W. Brock
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.09.1998
• EAN: 9780674873261
• ISBN: 978-0-674-87326-1
• No. of pages: 336
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Business > Management