Does Municipal Supply of Communications Crowd-Out Private Communications Investment? An Empirical Study

12 Pages Posted: 23 Aug 2006

See all articles by George S. Ford

George S. Ford

Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies

Abstract

There are 2,007 municipalities across the United States that provide electricity service to their constituents. Of these, over 600 provide some sort of communications services to the community. An important policy question is whether or not public investment in communications crowds out private investment, or whether such investment encourages additional entry by creating wholesale markets and economic growth. We test these two hypotheses - the crowding out and stimulation hypothesis - using a recent dataset for the state of Florida. We find strong evidence favoring the stimulation hypothesis, since public investment in communications network increases competitive communications firm entry by a sizable amount.

Keywords: Municipal Broadband, Telecommunications

JEL Classification: L51, L86, L94, L96

Suggested Citation

Ford, George S., Does Municipal Supply of Communications Crowd-Out Private Communications Investment? An Empirical Study. Energy Economics, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=925970

George S. Ford (Contact Author)

Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies ( email )

5335 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Suite 440
Washington, DC 20015
United States

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