The FCC is currently considering whether it should adopt a uniform rate for pole attachment services for broadband services. Based on Ramsey pricing principles, we find that while historical differences in rates were sensible, technological convergence dictates that broadband providers should...

Proposals to increase regulation of mobile wireless services, for example, by applying “net neutrality" regulation, are often based on claims that such regulation would enhance innovation and increase consumer choice. In fact, they would have the opposite effect. The business practices that...

This paper surveys the recent literature on competition between mobile networks in the presence of call externalities and network effects. It argues that the regulation of mobile termination rates based on fully allocated costs, or “long-run incremental cost plus," exacerbates the network...

Payment cards continue to replace cash and checks in advanced economies. Along with the growth of payment card transactions has come greater scrutiny by public authorities of certain payment network rules along with the level of certain fees. This article reviews the growing payment card...

We consider a model of Internet interconnection. We characterize the Myerson value as the bargaining outcome in interconnection agreements in given networks and provide its interpretation in terms of "betweenness centrality." Then, in an extended network formation model, we characterize the...

Structural and functional separation of telecommunications operators is being considered in many parts of the world following the U.K. functional separation of BT into retail and network operations. The attractiveness of separation is understandable due to the problems regulators often...

Previous authors have suggested inviting competition as a solution to the credibility issues that arise when a new network good is introduced. We suggest an alternative remedy of pre-producing the good. The two strategies are compared, as are combinations of these two strategies in two different...

We empirically demonstrate a practical approach of efficiency evaluation with limited data availability in some regulated industries. We apply PCA-DEA for radial efficiency measurement to U.S. natural gas transmission companies in 2007. PCA-DEA reduces dimensions of the optimization problem...

This paper derives an optimal allocation rule (?*) that (i) assigns a share of the transaction price to the buyer-side of the two-sided market; (ii) is equivalent to the Rochet-Tirole price structure rule; and (iii) is a function of the own/cross-price elasticities. For linear demands, demand...

This short article explains why merchants accept expensive payment cards when merchants are Cournot competitors. The same acceptance rule as the Hotelling price competition model of Rochet and Tirole (2002) is derived. Unlike the models used in the existing literature, in the Cournot setting...