Internet Everywhere: Broadband as a Catalyst for the Digital Economy

Broadband technologies power the country’s digital infrastructure and have become essential platforms for 21st century communications and commerce. One of the most important economic and policy issues facing the new administration is whether U.S. regulation of broadband platforms will help or hinder the kind of innovation, investment, competition and economic growth the country needs to climb out of the economic decline it has been experiencing in the last few years.

On November 27, the Economic Studies program at Brookings hosted a forum to discuss how a well-crafted regulatory paradigm can work to foster investment, continue innovation, and increase consumer welfare. Former Brookings Senior Fellow Robert Litan and co-author Hal Singer, managing director and principal at Navigant Economics, presented policy recommendations from their soon-to-be-published e-book, The Need for Speed: A New Framework for Telecommunications Policy for the 21st Century (Brookings Press, 2013). Darrell West, vice president and director of Governance Studies, moderated a panel of industry and academic experts on the current and future economic potential of broadband platforms for bringing the Internet everywhere, and catalyzing the digital economy.