Competition in the Digital Age
Economists like to say that there are no free lunches. How does that attitude apply to free software and services? It is no secret that many prominent platforms give away services, and so do many widely used open-source projects. The answer should help us understand our world. While it costs next to nothing to replicate …
Continue reading "Free Software without a Free Lunch or Free Beer"
It has long been recognized that networked services contain weak-link vulnerabilities. That is, the performance of any frontier device depends on the performance of every contributing component and service. This column focuses on one such phenomenon, which goes by the label “congestion.” No, this is not a new type of allergy, but, as with a …
Do you teach Internet economics? Do you teach Internet strategy to business students? Looking for cases to expose students to the latest issues in data markets? This post include some quick (and shameless) publicity for a few cases you might find useful. One is about the fight between Netflix and broadband ISPs. Another is about …
Continue reading "Teaching about data carrier economics? A few cases to help."
In Slate, Eli Dourado has a post in support of Comcast's move to cap broadband usage at 300GB per month unless you want to pay $10 for a little more or $30 for unlimited. I have played the rational economist explains to consumers why a restriction is good for them card more times than I …
Continue reading "Broadband usage caps are probably inefficient"
For many readers of this blog, this story in the Consumerist is a harrowing account. Only months after moving into his new home in Washington state, Consumerist reader Seth is already looking to sell his house. He didn’t lose his job or discover that the property is haunted. No, Seth can’t stay much longer because …
Continue reading "How important is broadband competition? For some, really important"
The recent interest in Net Neutrality has been spurred on by Netflix's fight with Comcast for a fast lane. The issue of whether a lack of access to a fast lane might stifle innovation is a big one (see here for an impassioned plea) but what I wanted to consider today was the more basic …
Until recently, a fast lane from a broadband ISP was a remote possibility in the US. ISPs had to give data equal treatment, regardless of the source, and could not offer faster delivery for a higher price while giving slower service as a default. Although fast lanes were allowed by regulators a few years ago …
Comcast and Netflix have come to a deal on 'peering.' Basically, what this means is that Netflix will pay Comcast to ensure that Netflix's customers get good internet service for Netflix. While apparently, Netflix is not getting special treatment under the deal, as we economists all know, it is what not having a deal would …
Comcast and Time Warner want to merge their cable operations in the US. They are the two largest Pay TV companies but the merger would result in them having 30 percent of the US pay TV market. That said, competition is, in many respects local, and the argument is that there the shares of each …
It is the one year anniversary of the Open Internet Advisory Committee (as noted earlier). Today the committee issued a report of its work over the last year. You can access it here. Today’s post discusses the report about data Caps, which was written by the Economic Impacts working group. I am a member of …
Digitopoly 