The Spectrum Should be Private: The Economics, History, and Future of Wireless Technology

Tags: Private Property, Legal System, U.S. History

12/15/2004 Essays in Political Economy B.K. Marcus

Downloads

The Spectrum Should Be Private Property_ B.K. Marcus.pdf

Is the radio spectrum a unique resource that belongs to the public, or can it be privately owned like any other good or service? Most people assume that public ownership is axiomatic—a starting point rather than the historical consequence of special interests pretending to misunderstand economics. This is wholly incorrect.

Subscribe to Essays in Political Economy

Latest Articles

Climate Worries Are Non-Credible, Luxury Beliefs That Harm Civilization Itself

04/19/2024 Mises Wire Joakim Book

I live in a small village at the edge of lands surrounded by very harsh nature. Those who occupied these valleys in ages past lived ruthlessly dangerous lives, where starvation was a constant worry...

The Seen and the Unseen: Implications of Biden’s New Tariff

04/18/2024 Power & Market David Brady, Jr.

Biden’s newest proposal for steel tariffs join a long list of tariff policies that ignore the unseen damage that will be done to the U.S. economy by raising them. This week, President Biden announced...

Argentina: Mises and Milei, 65 Years Apart

04/18/2024 Power & Market Stephen Anderson

Ludwig Von Mises gave six lectures in 1959 in Buenos Aires, Argentina where, “he spoke in nontechnical terms suitable for his audience of business professionals, professors, teachers, and students. He...

Tariffs Are Taxes on Americans—But Protectionists Pretend Otherwise

04/18/2024 Mises Wire Ryan McMaken

During the 2016 and 2020 campaigns, Trump's opponents in the Democratic party (and elsewhere) often pointed out that Trump's protectionism hobbles private markets and the economy overall. Yet, the...

The Indian Congress Conundrum: Secularism, Socialism, and the Search for a New Path

04/18/2024 Power & Market Shashank Shukla

On April 4, 2024, senior leaders of the Indian National Congress (hereinafter referred to as the "Congress") either faced expulsion from the party or voluntarily departed. Former National Spokesperson...

Meet the Writer

B.K. Marcus

Grandfather Willcke: Mises's Unsigned Editorial for the New York Times

04/12/2022 Mises Daily Ludwig von Mises B.K. Marcus

Introduction by B.K. Marcus: Mises wrote his first New York Times editorial in March 1941, having been in the United States for less than a year. He addressed a dispute between Josef Göbbels and...

Radio Free Rothbard

07/30/2014 Journal of Libertarian Studies B.K. Marcus

In almost every discussion of the FCC specifically, or American spectrum policy in general, someone will assert that radio spectrum is a unique resource that belongs to the public. This will be said...

What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member