Friday, June 30, 2006

Not Necessarily Net Neutrality, Since Net Neturality's Not Necessary

I don't want to bite the Google hand that feeds, but Robert Hahn and Scott Wallstein convincingly argue against "net neutrality" (i.e., regulations preventing broadband providers from charging different prices based on content). In general, price regulation is bad, so the burden of proof is on the net neutrality types. It's true that monopolistic broadband providers could use price discrimination in a negative way -- but the experience of high-tech industries is that it is difficult to keep a monoploy for long, and it is far more important to have incentives for investment and to keep regulators out.

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