Considering both distributional effects and changes in efficiency, it is a good idea to let companies that send video or other content to consumers pay more to Internet service providers for the right to send that traffic using faster or higher quality service.
Responses
Responses weighted by each expert's confidence
| Participant | University | Vote | Confidence | Bio/Vote History |
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 Daron Acemoglu |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Alberto Alesina |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Joseph Altonji |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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High bandwidth traffic imposes externalities on other users.
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 Alan Auerbach |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 David Autor |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Net neutrality is a fiction. Hire Akamai (et al.) to mirror your servers worldwide to speed content to your users. One user: Healthcare.gov!
-see background information here |
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 Katherine Baicker |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Abhijit Banerjee |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I worry it will crowd out the public goods that make the internet uniquely valuable unless bandwidth gets so cheap that it doesn't matter.
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 Marianne Bertrand |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Markus Brunnermeier |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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This might lead to better allocation but also opens the room for price discrimination. The implications for the consumers are not obvious.
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 Raj Chetty |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Judith Chevalier |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Regs have to address vertical price squeeze motivated price discrimination.
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 Janet Currie |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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The broadband industry does not seem to be very competitive, so allowing it to charge more to content providers may not improve the market.
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 David Cutler |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Angus Deaton |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Darrell Duffie |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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If all qualities sell at the same price, markets cannot allocate quality efficiently. Works for soap, wine, and haircuts; why not Internet?
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 Aaron Edlin |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Faster service is valuable and this is one way we may get it but adverse effects are also possible.
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 Barry Eichengreen |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Liran Einav |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Ray Fair |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Amy Finkelstein |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Pinelopi Goldberg |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Austan Goolsbee |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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did any else notice how slippery this hill we are camping on seems?
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 Michael Greenstone |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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there is an obvious potential efficiency gain but there is also potential for a harmful "vertical price squeeze". net effect is unclear.
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 Robert Hall |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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This is a total side issue. The central issue is the perennial last-mile problem--the market power of the cable and phone companies.
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 Oliver Hart |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Letting price vary with quality is good if there is enough competition. I don't know if that's true here. If not the answer is less clear.
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 Bengt Holmström |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Caroline Hoxby |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Answer obvious on efficiency grounds. On distribution, use other means to redistribute to poor--not covert internet cross subsidization.
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 Hilary Hoynes |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Clear gain to providing faster service at higher costs. Uncertain comes from potential GE effects in reducing access for those unable to pay
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 Kenneth Judd |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Steven Kaplan |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Anil Kashyap |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Presumably creates strong incentives for vertical integration. Not clear if that is good or not.
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 Pete Klenow |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
 Jonathan Levin |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Eric Maskin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 William Nordhaus |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Maurice Obstfeld |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Emmanuel Saez |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Larry Samuelson |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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This would be a great idea if the market for service provision was competitive, but is less obvious with our current market.
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 José Scheinkman |
Columbia University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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In the absence of robust competition in broadband, regulation is needed to help new applications, services and content.
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 Richard Schmalensee |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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It is not generally good policy to restrict firms' product offerings, but there seem to be other considerations.
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 Carl Shapiro |
Berkeley | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Robert Shimer |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Clearly winners and losers from this policy and clearly the market is imperfect. This is a hard call
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 Nancy Stokey |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Richard Thaler |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Seems like those who cause congestion should pay more. I know some worry that ISPs will play favorites, but that should be preventable.
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 Christopher Udry |
Northwestern | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Net neutrality has worked well, and likely maximizes welfare in the short-run. Longer-term investment incentives are the counter-argument.
-see background information here |
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