Media ownership and communications: Enriching the research agenda

This paper examines whether diverse opinions make their way into the communication policy decisions. Specifically, it examines whether academics from distinct disciplines engage one another and whether Federal Communications Commission (FCC) experts rely on a multidisciplinary body of research in making telecommunications-related decisions. After tracing how narrow expertise can lead to shallow policy perspectives, the paper employs a social network analysis of citations to assess the breadth of the media ownership debate. The case of media ownership was considered a worthy choice for analysis because it was so high on the policy agenda. The paper found that the media ownership policy network is extremely hierarchical; it comprises relatively few connected members around which clusters form and the majority of communication takes place. Lacking overlap among subgroups, there is very little interaction across disciplinary boundaries. An analysis of FCC citations demonstrates the impact that the dominant journals have on the FCC decision-making process, with significant implications for FCC decision making in all aspects of telecommunications.     

A Human Development Index for U.S. Cities: Methodological Issues and Preliminary Findings

This paper builds upon the work of the United Nations Development Program in expanding the use of the Human Development Index (HDI). This index, originally created to compare human development among countries, has been modified to allow comparisons among cities in the United States. This paper discusses the methodology used to develop the cross-city HDI, as well as the results for the twenty-five cities chosen for this study. The results offer an intriguing "snapshot" of human development in each city, as well as an encouraging, although limited, benchmark for policy making in cities.     

Regulation and investment behaviour in the telecommunications sector: policies and patterns in US and Europe

This paper reports the results of the quantitative analysis of international experience of the relationship between infrastructure investment in the deployment of capacity that can carry large volumes of voice and data traffic and regulatory policy changes in the telecommunications sectors. It looks at the relationship between infrastructure investment for these infrastructure assets and the access pricing régimes for local exchange carriers in the United States and Europe. It then looks at the relationship between various aspects of regulatory and institutional policy changes in Europe and how they affect access prices.The paper finds that a lower access price promotes greater deployment of digital technology among US incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs). Based on this finding, it suggests that it is in the ILECs interest to have access to their networks encouraged.The European data for interconnection are recent and far reaching conclusions are not feasible, but the findings, however, suggest that competition has worked by facilitating new entry through decreasing interconnection prices, although path dependencies, of existing and traditional concepts, in the mindsets of operators as well as regulators, may account for these findings.     

The influence of regulations on the efficiency of telecommunications operators: A meta-frontier analysis

The telecommunications industry has a great ripple effect on the overall national economy. However, there is no consensus about what is the optimal regulation policy for the telecommunications industry. Regulations on the telecommunications industry are different by region (i.e. United States, European Union and Asia). A number of studies have been conducted on comparative efficiency analysis for different policies that apply stochastic frontier analysis or data envelope analysis. However, these comparative studies are inappropriate because the production functions for each region are not identical. Thus, this paper addresses meta-frontier methodology, which can reflect differences in production functions. The results indicate that the United States has the highest meta-frontier efficiency in contrast to previous research findings.     

The moral hazard of Lax FCC land use oversight for advanced network infrastructure

This article discusses issues that arise when service providers place network equipment on publicly owned lands in the United States. Based on land use policy at the Federal Communications Commission, this paper theorizes that the use of public lands for 5G network development will create a moral hazard, as service providers may be tempted to take risks in the way they use public lands. Per economic theory the firm could behave recklessly when knowing that the costs will be borne by someone else – in this case local citizens. This is an example of the moral hazard problem in economics.     

Flexibility and Fairness in Liberal Market Economies: The Comparative Impact of the Legal Environment and High‐Performance Work Systems

This paper compares management flexibility in employment decision making in the United States and Canada through a cross‐national survey of organizations in representative jurisdictions in each country, Pennsylvania and Ontario, respectively, that investigates the impact of differences in their legal environments. The results indicate that, compared to their Ontario counterparts, organizations in Pennsylvania have a higher degree of flexibility in employment outcomes, such as higher dismissal and discipline rates, yet do not experience any greater flexibility or simplicity in management hiring and firing decisions. One explanation for this result may lie in the finding that organizations in Pennsylvania experience greater legal pressures on decision making, reflecting the generally more intense conflict in the employment law system in the United States. By contrast, high‐performance work systems, which some have looked to as a possible management‐driven mechanism for enhancing fairness in employment, had more modest effects.     

A layered United States Universal Service Fund for an everything-over-IP world

Support through the United States Federal Universal Service Fund for high-cost areas has been principally defined in terms of telephone service. Fund growth due to increases in wireless lines and implicit support for broadband infrastructure has created an untenable situation, and fundamental reform is expected. The cause underlying this growth is convergence between the telephone network, wireless networks, the Internet, and cable networks. This convergence will pose additional serious long-term challenges to the fund. This paper proposes a restructuring of the high-cost funds based on a layered model. Both contributions and distributions are focused on network infrastructure, without distinction between voice and broadband. The proposal uses a new definition of communication services to guarantee technology neutrality, and includes service area reform and cost efficiency measures. This layered approach repositions the fund for future converged networks.     

What is driving increases in dietary quality in the United States?

Over 1994–2010, adult dietary quality in the United States increased by 10 percent. We find a shift in consumption between at-home and away-from-home food played a relatively minor role as compared to changes in demographics and educational attainment. The two largest contributors we identify include an increased usage of nutritional information and a shift away from relying heavily on price, taste, storability and ease of preparation when shopping for food. Our findings suggest nutrition policy discussions could focus on further shifting attitudes/preferences towards healthier diets while allowing consumers to better extract nutrition information when making food choices.     

Sharing is the name of the game: Exploring the role of social media communication practices on B2B customer relationships in the life sciences industry

The inclusion of social media as a communication channel in a vendor's B2B digital marketing strategy is growing in importance. Understanding the effect of such practices upon customer relationships is crucial for firms as they increasingly engage in this way. This paper presents and tests a model that explores the effect of vendor social media communication practices upon trust and loyalty in B2B customer relationships. A study using quantitative data from 196 business customers of a United States life sciences firm is reported. The model indicates that trust and loyalty are influenced by a) the social media shared beliefs between the vendor and the customer; b) the nature of the vendor's social media communication with the customer; and c) the extent to which the vendor's social media communication practices enable effective customer-to-customer communication. Trust is found to have a mediating role between these indicators and loyalty. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Spatial data constraints: Implications for measuring broadband

The accurate determination of where broadband telecommunication services are available in the United States continues to be a significant challenge. Existing data regarding broadband provision, such as that provided by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) simply designate ZIP codes with at least one high-speed Internet subscriber. As ZIP code areas vary greatly in size and shape, the lack of geographic specificity as to exactly where broadband is available, particularly within ZIP code areas, confounds communications policymaking. Further, there are a number of additional geographic nuances concerning broadband availability that also inhibit empirical examination and policy generation, including the spatial limitations of digital subscriber line services. The purpose of this paper is to briefly review the issues concerning broadband measurement in the United States and provide an empirical analysis of several spatial data constraints that must be accounted for when interpreting and constructing public telecommunications policy.     

The rise of Facebook-based communication in the energy sector

In the case of public utilities, the development of stakeholder communication through Facebook is not focused in the existing body of literature. Yet, it is especially these developments that are essential for scholars and practitioners as they highlight the way stakeholder communication in the energy sector will change. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this lack of research by investigating developments in the ways German and Austrian public utilities use Facebook to communicate. Responding to the research objectives, two empirical studies were conducted. In 2014 as well as 2015 an online survey was sent to 850 German and 30 Austrian utilities. The results highlight the rising importance of Facebook in the energy sector. The share of public utilities using Facebook is constantly increasing. Additionally, during the twelve months investigated, the interactivity and frequency of Facebook-based communication rose. Utilities are progressively willing to invest more personnel and monetary resources to administer their accounts. As the numbers of fans increase, users seem to value the information provided by utilities on Facebook.     

The riskiness of outstanding mortgages in the United States, 1999–2019

This article introduces measures of credit risk for all outstanding mortgages in the United States between 1999 and 2019. Terminations play a fundamental role in offsetting risk introduced by new originations because of refinance activity and the often dual nature of home buyers as concurrent sellers. To illustrate these concepts in a policy setting, I show that the Home Affordable Refinance Program increased origination risk metrics but reduced overall risk due to associated terminations of even riskier loans. In addition to these flow dynamics, amortization, loan age, collateral appreciation, and prior selection drive changes to portfolio-level risk.     

智能电网发展的机制及其对电网自动化技术的影响

从技术和机制的结合方面探讨智能电网与其之前的电网发展阶段的差异。以欧美智能电网研究和建设的现状为前提，讨论智能电网发展需要的机制和制度基础。讨论电力市场环境下智能电网的建设与发展及其对电网自动化技术带来的影响，认为电力市场提供的价格信号是电网自动化系统的新的增量信号，这将对电网自动化技术和智能电网技术产生十分显著和深刻的影响。并进一步讨论了智能电网的发展可能存在的潜在的技术和制度风险。     

Universal service in Vietnam: An institutional approach

Applying institutional theory to look at the Program 74 (a universal service policy) in Vietnam, this paper concludes that the Vietnamese universal service policy was strongly affected by formal institutional factors (the international agreements and the directives of the Communist Party of Vietnam - CPV), in which the international agreements played a leading role and the CPV's directives played a guarantee role. The formulation and implementation of the universal service policy in Vietnam were mainly concentrated on action at levels 2 and 3 (formal and informal institutional arrangement, and formal institutional environment). The paper recommends that nations favouring a top-down approach not based on a market-oriented regime should deregulate and emphasize the role of provincial governments as well as encourage private sectors/social organizations and rural users to be more involved in the formulation and implementation of universal service policies. Moreover, the government should set up and force the contractual relations between governmental entities and telecom providers.     

The U.S. National Broadband Map: Data limitations and implications

The 2011 release of the National Broadband Map (NBM) has generated significant interest from the telecommunications policy community. The NBM is a multiagency effort, including the National Telecommunications Administration (NTIA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories, to collect and disseminate information on broadband provision and quality of service for the United States. From a geographic perspective, the NBM represents a marked departure from previous broadband data efforts. Specifically, instead of disseminating FCC Form 477 data on providers at the ZIP code or Census tract level, the NBM reports provision information at the Census block level—the smallest geographic unit in which the Census bureau tabulates survey information. While this increased level of geographic data resolution is a welcome change, there are several notable limitations to these data that are important to consider when conducting spatial econometric analysis for public policy evaluation. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is twofold. First, this paper explores the salient characteristics of Census block geographic base files, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses as summary units of spatial analysis. This also includes a brief discussion on how the NBM treats geographically large blocks and their use of road segments for aggregating provider data. Second, this paper examines the impacts of empty blocks (i.e. blocks that have no household information associated with them) for the spatial analysis of broadband. Finally, this paper provides a short overview of how these data limitations can impact public policy evaluation and provides a blueprint for improving the National Broadband Map.     

Evaluation of USDA's Broadband Loan Program: Impacts on broadband provision

Since 2002 the USDA's Broadband Loan Program has directed more than $1.8 billion in subsidized loans to help expand broadband access in under-served rural communities. Program eligibility criteria included having a population of 20,000 or fewer, having no prior access to broadband, and providing a minimum matching contribution of 15% by recipients of the loan. Loans were extended mainly to small telecommunications services firms at varying (subsidized) interest rates. We evaluate on the effectiveness of the Loan Program in increasing broadband availability in target locations. Specifically, we analyze whether loan receipt increases the number of broadband providers in a particular location, using various count panel methods. Our analysis is conducted at the ZIP code level over the period 1999–2008; it uses broadband provider data from the FCC's Form 477, and loan data from the Rural Utility Service (the implementing agency for the Broadband Loan Program). Results indicate that ZIP codes receiving broadband loans did in fact experience modest, statistically significant increases in the number of broadband providers vis-à-vis non-recipient locations; that average marginal effects on treated ZIP codes were approximately 0.092 additional broadband providers annually; and that these benefits accrued more towards rural locations than urban locations, in conformance with the intent of the program.     

Analysing the C-Band spectrum auctions for 5G in Europe: Achieving efficiency and fair decisions in radio spectrum management

This paper offers a detailed analysis of selected regulatory parameters used as instruments to promote efficiency with fairness for all stakeholders (in the legal sense of equity) in 5G spectrum auctions. Data were collected from sixteen auctions for the C-band that took place in the Member States of the European Union (EU) and in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2017 and 2020 for the introduction of the fifth generation (5G) of mobile communication technology. The selected instruments of intervention are: spectrum packaging, spectrum caps, set-asides, geographical scope of the license, license duration, various forms of license obligations, reserve prices and auction format.Significant differences were observed in national approaches to spectrum packaging, license obligations and reserve prices for efficiency purposes. Our analysis also shows that European national regulators are paying increasing attention to concerns over fairness of decisions on spectrum, or equity, especially by creating opportunities for local private networks to access the spectrum and by imposing requirements on network operators to guarantee more uniform population coverage of newly created 5G networks.     

Aux armes, citoyens: Cyber security and regulation in the United States

Government policy for cyber security in the United States relies on voluntary and cooperative action by the private sector and has, until now, explicitly rejected the use of mandate or regulation. This stands in contrast to other defense and homeland security issues, such as those involving border protection or transportation, where government intervention is the norm. The decision to rely on voluntary action for cyber security reflects influential trends in security policies, deregulation, and the government's relation to the Internet that continue to shape US policy even after the attacks of September 11. The result is an ineffectual policy that underestimates the role of government.     

An in-depth analysis of the entrepreneurship of rural Chinese mothers and the digital inclusive finance

Rural mothers' entrepreneurial behavior is critical to promoting inclusive rural economic development. However, these women are constrained by family responsibilities, economic substandard and severe financial exclusion. Fortunately, the development of digital inclusive finance has successfully broken such exclusions, thus allowing entrepreneur mothers to achieve some financial success. Applying the 2017 China General Social Survey and the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index, this paper explores the impact of digital inclusive finance on rural mothers' entrepreneurship and the transmission mechanism using the Probit model. In fact, due to digital inclusive finance, rural mothers' entrepreneurship increased by 4.6%. In addition, this paper finds the impact of this digital inclusive finance on entrepreneurship, in general, is more significant on mothers in less developed areas and with high levels of education than on those in developed regions and with low levels of education. Meanwhile, using the transmission mechanism for analysis, the paper found the role of digital inclusive finance in inciting entrepreneurship among rural mothers. This mainly comes through two channels: the gender equality effect and the information learning effect.     

United Shoe Machineryand the Antitrust Significance of “Free” Service

In United States v. United Shoe MachineryCorp., United Shoe Machinery was found guilty ofillegal monopolization due to its leasing practices. Existing scholarship on this case largely focuses onthe issue of leasing versus selling. In contrast,we examine a particular practice of United's thatwas condemned: its policy of providing service forits leased machines without a separate servicecharge. Our analysis demonstrates that thispractice served an important insurance function byshifting risk from the shoe manufacturers to United,a more efficient bearer of risk, and concludes thatthis practice was efficiency enhancing.