Economists have long recognized that technological innovation and enhanced communication increase productivity and reduce friction in economic activity. And never before has technology’s impact on economic growth been as evident as it is today.
At IPI, we focus on technology and communications policy not only because it’s critical to economic growth, but also because government’s inherent tendency to regulate prospectively poses an active threat to the economic gains and lifestyle enhancements made possible by technological innovation.
The communications and technology industries are among the country’s most competitive and the biggest capital investors in the U.S. economy, and are thus prime engines of economic growth and job creation. It is critical that public policy encourages continued innovation and investment in the tech sector, and that we don’t limit the innovation upside with counterproductive taxes and regulations.
Restoring Our Lost Liberty on the Internet
Updating the 28 year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) could protect the privacy of our electronic communications from the NSA, the IRS, and other federal agencies.
Free-Market Advocates Say FCC's Proposed Internet Regulations Are Unneeded, Harmful to Broadband Deployment Goals
Fourteen groups representing free-market advocates opposed to Internet regulation, filed comments with the FCC, calling on the Commission to delay any effort to issue "Network Neutrality" regulations until Congress has provided the agency clear authority to do so.
Letter to Senator Thune Regarding STELA
IPI recommends passage of a "clean" reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA).
The New Rent Seeking?
When companies resort to lawsuits to gain market advantage, a sort of rent seeking via the courts can be the result.
The Health Care Contradiction: Medicine's Old and New Ways Clash
Innovation is transforming health care, or at least it’s trying. Old practices and laws can create a drag on that new innovation.
Is streaming technology saving the music industry?
When digital downloads took off in the late Nineties, file-sharing services blossomed, too. The industry went into a tailspin as music sales virtually halved over the next decade. One 2007 study by IPI estimated that illegal downloading was costing the US economy $12.5bn a year.
Apple-Samsung Wars Are Hurting Innovation
By directing its energies toward tying up its competitors' time and resources in endless court battles, Apple mires the industry in litigious quicksand, diverts resources from innovation, and deprives consumers of new products and services.
In Aereo, the Supreme Court Gets It Right
The Aereo decision is a victory for property rights and the rule of law, rather than the triumph of entrenched interests over disruptive innovation.
Time for Congress to consider H1-B visa reform
Skilled immigrants are good for the economy and for your pocketbook.
PITFA Moves to House Floor After Judiciary Markup Some Committee Members Seek MFA Review
If the moratorium were "allowed to expire, states would begin to collect taxes on Internet access, or apply other discriminatory taxes that may already be in place but which have been held at bay during the moratorium," said IPI's Bartlett Cleland.
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