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re Report: NN Makes Economic Sense read both parts
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:05:15 -0500
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From: George Ou <george_ou () lanarchitect net> Date: January 14, 2010 5:57:17 PM EST To: dave () farber net Subject: RE: [IP] IPI Report: NN Makes Economic Sense read both parts
That study is completely flawed. http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/01/net-neutrality-economic-study-based-on -flawed-analysis/ A new paper from the Institute for Policy Integrity of the New YorkUniversity School of Law claims that without Net Neutrality, ISPs can double charge and extort content providers. But their use of flawed models causedthem to reverse the costs and reverse the conclusion. George Ou -----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 1:08 PM To: ip Subject: [IP] IPI Report: NN Makes Economic Sense read both parts From: Richard Stallman <rms () gnu org> Date: January 14, 2010 9:47:34 AM EST To: "Jeffrey A. Williams" <jwkckid1 () ix netcom com>Cc: seth.johnson () RealMeasures dyndns org, ecommerce () lists essential org ,upd-discuss () lists essential org, A2K () lists essential orgSubject: Re: [A2k] Re: [Upd-discuss] IPI Report: NN Makes Economic SenseReply-To: rms () gnu org Very true. However there has never been, nor will there ever be absolute economic efficiency or fairness. As such a ballance must be sought that everyone can live with, a very difficult task to achieve and maintain. These days, we have a lot of economic efficiency in production and very little fairness. As a result, lots of production goes into activities that are harmful in the long term, and most of the world's people get no benefit from all the production. Clearly we need increased concern with fairness. _______________________________________________ Upd-discuss mailing list Upd-discuss () lists essential org http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/upd-discuss From: "Faulhaber, Gerald" <faulhabe () wharton upenn edu> Date: January 14, 2010 11:28:38 AM EST To: David Farber <dave () farber net>Subject: RE: [A2k] Re: [Upd-discuss] IPI Report: NN Makes Economic SenseInteresting points, most of which are wrong1 NN doesn't make economic sense in a world of price discrimination, as we point out in our paper. There is no reason for ISPs to discourageentry by application/content providers, and a profit-maximizingprice-discriminating ISP would certainly encourage small entrepreneurs witha low or zero price, since it results in more content which is more attractive to subscription customers.2 Much of the world's production actually does go to the poor (or "emerging middle class"). The economic revolution in India and China (and East Asia generally) is all about this. Has yet to happen in Africa and theMiddle East.3 Efficiency (in production and allocation) is all about incentives;if we get the incentives (and the markets) right, the private sector unleashes incredible energy. I think the problems with Africa and theMiddle East has much more to do with (bad) incentives than with fairness.4 Fairness is much studied by economists; lots of books/ articles in the 1980s on fairness and efficiency tradeoffs. Ed Zajac and Hal Varian, among many others, have written on the topic. Amartya Sen is the leadingsocial justice theorist, and has just come out with a new book; Sen isalways worth reading. Generally, an excessive focus on fairness tends to blunt incentives, so nations don't grow as fast (India pre-1998). A smaller pie gets divided more equally, but it's a smaller pie. Incentives are whatmakes the pie grow.There are ways to get the best of fairness and efficiency, but generally thepolicies we pursue are the wrong ones (e.g., trade policy). Professor Emeritus Gerald Faulhaber Business and Public Policy Dept. Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104 Professor Emeritus of Law University of Pennsylvania Begin forwarded message: ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- re Report: NN Makes Economic Sense read both parts Dave Farber (Jan 14)