TY  - JOUR
AU  - Greenstein,Shane
TI  - Economic Experiments and Neutrality in Internet Access
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13158
PY  - 2007
Y2  - June 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13158
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13158.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Shane Greenstein
The Elinor and Wendell Hobbs Professor
Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University
2001 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL  60208-2013
Tel: 847/467-5672
Fax: 847/467-1777
E-Mail: greenstein@kellogg.northwestern.edu
M3  - presented at "Innovation Policy and the Economy", April 12, 2007
AB  - Economic experiments yield lessons to firms that can be acquired only through market experience. Economic experiments cannot take place in a laboratory; scientists, engineers, or marketing executives cannot distill equivalent lessons from simply building a prototype or interviewing potential customers and vendors. The historical record illustrates that economic experiments were important for value creation in Internet access markets. In general, industry-wide returns from economic experiments exceed private returns, with several important exceptions. Those conclusions motivate an inquiry into whether regulatory policy can play a role in fostering the creation of value. The net neutrality debate is reinterpreted through this lens. A three part test is proposed for encouraging economic experiments from both broadband carriers and providers of complementary services.
ER  -