Mayo issues EPV: “Will Ideology Block Opportunity? Regulatory Reform in the Infrastructure Industries”

Notwithstanding the nation’s ideological differences, a number of practical opportunities for policymakers to improve economic welfare have emerged and for which there is considerable agreement, if not complete political consensus, that will allow policy progress. These opportunities create the potential for practicality to forge agreement even in the face of more widespread ideological discord across our society.

This basic premise is no more evident than in the set of infrastructure industries that policymakers across the political spectrum have identified as crucial for U.S. competitiveness in the 21st century. As a case in point, I focus on broadband technologies (both wired and wireless), which policymakers of all political stripes have identified as crucial for economic growth. This Economic Policy Vignette first identifies the practical, as opposed to ideological, case for regulatory reform in the broadband sector, then pivots to identify a number of specific measures that present themselves at this moment that create opportunity for meaningful and beneficial regulatory reform.