We conduct a basic analysis of entry and exit in the US broadband market, using a complete FCC census of providers from 2005 to 2008. There is a tremendous amount of (simultaneous) entry and exit in the US broadband market. Most entry is from existing providers expanding into new geographic...

We examine citizen engagement in political and social civic life in California. We begin by comparing the state to the nation at large, and find that California lags the nation in non-electoral civic engagement. The data also show that Whites were more engaged than Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians,...

The newest dimension of the Digital Divide is access to broadband (high-speed) Internet service. Using a comprehensive U.S. data set covering all forms of technology (chiefly DSL and cable modem), I look for evidence of redlining, where broadband carriers avoid areas with high concentrations of...

Illicit trade in tobacco is a substantial and growing problem in the U.S., causing loss of tax revenue, damage to public health, and threats to public safety. Decisions about enforcement against ITTP involve tradeoffs among competing objectives. Good policy design can improve the terms of those...

As the tax base for traditional tobacco excise taxes continues to erode, policymakers have growing interest to expand taxation to novel and reduced-risk tobacco products. Chief among the latter are e-cigarettes although taxes for other reduced-risk tobacco products such as heated tobacco and...

This appendices to this report can be found at: (https://ssrn.com/abstract=3435260). In regulating tobacco products, governments seek to promote public health by discouraging consumption. However, imposing regulatory costs and taxes on licit producers and consumers presents an economic...

Appendix is available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3322092We examine recent survey data from California to investigate smokers’ responses to an increase in cigarette excise-tax rates. We estimate how tax avoidance and the economic crimes of tax evasion and illicit trade in tobacco products...

Illicit trade in tobacco products (ITTP) creates many harms including reduced tax revenues; damages to the economic interests of legitimate actors; funding for organized-crime and terrorist groups; negative effects of participation in illicit markets, such as violence and incarceration; and...

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) spent $4.7B during 2009-2013 to, int. al, increase broadband adoption in underserved communities. We characterize the BTOP grants and examine the impact of the awards on broadband adoption....

Illicit trade in tobacco products (ITTP) is big business in the United States and creates many harms including reduced tax revenues; damages to the economic interests of legitimate actors; funding for organized-crime and terrorist groups; negative effects of participation in illicit markets,...