http://surprisinglyfree.com A weekly podcast featuring in-depth discussions with an eclectic mix of authors, academics, and entrepreneurs at the intersection of technology, policy, and economics. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:17:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/12/07/milton-mueller/ http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/12/07/milton-mueller/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:00:58 +0000 Jerry Brito http://surprisinglyfree.com/?p=2862

Milton Mueller, Professor and Director of the Telecommunications Network Management Program at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, discusses his new book, Networks and States: The Global Politics of Internet Governance. Mueller begins by talking about Wikileaks’ recent leak of diplomatic cables, using the incident to elaborate on the meaning of internet governance. He notes the distinction between traditional centralized systems of authority and peer-produced, distributed governance that rules much of cyberspace. He also discusses global democracy, contradictions in cyber libertarian views, judicial checks and balances on the internet, and future issues in internet governance.


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Related Links

• “Mueller’s Networks and States = Classical Liberalism for the Information Age”, by Adam Thierer
• “Why Wikileaks polarizes America’s Internet politics”, by Mueller
• “How to Discredit Net Neutrality”, by Mueller
• “‘Networks and States’ at the Internet Governance Forum”, by Mueller

]]> http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/12/07/milton-mueller/feed/ 0 http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/11/02/tim-wu/ http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/11/02/tim-wu/#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 12:00:13 +0000 Jerry Brito http://surprisinglyfree.com/?p=2724

Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School, the chair of media reform group Free Press, and a writer for Slate, discusses his new book, The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires. Wu’s book documents the history of media industries in the United States and speculates on what that history teaches us about the future. On the podcast, he discusses Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter’s theory of innovation, cycles of open and closed competition within industries, the history of government-backed monopolies in telephone and radio, and his thoughts on the future of information empires, the internet, and regulation.


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Related Links

• The Internet’s Mid-Life Crisis, Wu speaking about the state of the internet
• Tim Wu on communication, chaos, and control, The New Yorker
• “Thoughts on Tim Wu’s Master Switch“, by Adam Theirer

]]> http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/11/02/tim-wu/feed/ 0 http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/04/26/jerry-ellig-on-the-national-broadband-plan/ http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/04/26/jerry-ellig-on-the-national-broadband-plan/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:00:43 +0000 Jerry Brito http://surprisinglyfree.com/?p=1436

Jerry Ellig, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and contributor to the Surprisingly Free blog, talks about the National Broadband Plan.  He also discusses network economics, railroads, and electricity distribution.


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Related Links

• The FCC’s National Broadband Plan
• Public Interest Comment on the National Broadband Plan by Jerry Ellig and Christina Forsberg
• Cutting the “Broadband Funding Gap” Down to Size by Jerry Ellig
• Spare us the broadband plan at The Washington Times

]]> http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/04/26/jerry-ellig-on-the-national-broadband-plan/feed/ 0 http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/04/19/bruce-yandle-on-the-rise-of-national-tv-and-the-spread-of-social-regulation/ http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/04/19/bruce-yandle-on-the-rise-of-national-tv-and-the-spread-of-social-regulation/#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:00:30 +0000 Jerry Brito http://surprisinglyfree.com/?p=1381

Bruce Yandle, Dean Emeritus at Clemson College of Business and Behavioral Sciences and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Economics for the Mercatus Center’s Capital Hill Campus, discusses the rise of national TV broadcasting and the spread of health, safety, and environmental regulation in mid-20th century America. The discussion also turns to the history of regulation in the United States, the decline of common law and the growth of code law, and the death (and return) of good beer in America.


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Related Links

• National TV Broadcasting the Rise of the Regulatory State by Bruce Yandle (pay content)
• Bootleggers and Baptists at Wikipedia
• Raising Railroad Rates: Trying to Stop Ruinous Competition from the October 25, 1881 New York Times
• Regulatory Capture at Wikipedia
• Agency Cost at Wikipedia
• Public Bads and Public Nuisance: Common Law Remedies for Environmental Decline by Karol Boudreaux and Bruce Yandle (pay content)
• Common Law at Wikipedia
• The Rise of the Chicago Packers and the Origins of Meat Inspection and Antitrust by Gary Libecap (pay content)
• Video Killed the Franchise Star: The Consumer Cost of Cable Franchising and Proposed Policy Alternatives by Jerry Brito and Jerry Ellig
• The Common Law and Economic Growth: Hayek Might Be Right by Paul G. Mahoney (pdf)

]]> http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/04/19/bruce-yandle-on-the-rise-of-national-tv-and-the-spread-of-social-regulation/feed/ 0 http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/03/15/thomas-hazlett-on-telecommunications-policy-and-economics/ http://surprisinglyfree.com/2010/03/15/thomas-hazlett-on-telecommunications-policy-and-economics/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:00:27 +0000 Jerry Brito http://surprisinglyfree.com/?p=1115

Thomas Hazlett, Professor of Law & Economics and Director of the Information Economy Project at George Mason University School of Law, discusses telecommunications policy and economics. The discussion also turns to the history of spectrum regulation, ongoing inefficiencies in the current system, and suggestions for possible improvements.


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Related Links

• Tragedy T.V.: Rights Fragmentation and the Junk Band Problem by Thomas Hazlett
• [Radio] Frequency Allocation at Wikipedia
• United States Radio Spectrum Frequency Allocation Chart (2003) at Wikipedia
• The Radio Act of 1927 and the Federal Radio Commission at Wikipedia
• The Federal Communications Commission by Ronald Coase
• DTV Transmission in the United States at Wikipedia
• NTSC Standard and ATSC Standard at Wikipedia
• United States 2008 Wireless Spectrum Auction at Wikipedia
• Qualcomm’s MediaFLO and 4G at Wikipedia
• White Spaces at Wikipedia
• Open Handset Alliance.

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