Getting What You Pay for: Analyzing the Net Neutrality Debate

Abstract

We analyze the effects of networks offering and charging for premium transmission service, which is central to the net neutrality debate. We find that when a network provider optimally charges for and provides premium transmission for content providers, innovation is stimulated on the edges of the network and smaller content providers benefit more than do larger content providers. Furthermore, we show that the network provider increases its investment in network capacity when it offers premium transmission without degrading service for content providers that do not purchase the premium service. Also the number of network subscribers increases.