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The Value of Broadband and the Deadweight Loss of Taxing New Technology

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Author Info
Austan Goolsbee (U. Chicago, GSB)

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Abstract

With fixed costs of developing technology, taxes can generate large efficiency costs by slowing the rate of diffusion and these costs are not accounted for in conventional analyses. This paper illustrates the potential importance of this idea in the context of taxes on broadband Internet access at an early stage of its existence by combining data on individual demand by area with data on supplier entry into those markets. Applying a tax to broadband in 1998 would have reduced the quantity and generated a large deadweight loss in the conventional model but when the analysis accounts for the fixed costs of entering new markets, taxes lead to delayed entry in several markets. In these places, the lost consumer surplus is additional deadweight loss and it more than doubles the true efficiency costs from taxation. The conventional model also dramatically understates the share of the tax burden borne by consumers.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Berkeley Electronic Press in its journal Contributions to Economic Analysis & Policy.

Volume (Year): 5 (2006)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 1505-1505
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Handle: RePEc:bep:eapcon:v:5:y:2006:i:1:p:1505-1505

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Related research
Keywords: taxation broadband deadweight loss diffusion

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

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  4. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis & Melissa Osborne, 2001. "The Determinants of Earnings: A Behavioral Approach," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1137-1176, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Nicholas Economides & Joacim Tag, 2007. "Net Neutrality on the Internet: A Two-sided Market Analysis," Working Papers 07-27, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Maija Gao & Ari Hyytinen & Otto Toivanen, 2005. "Demand for Mobile Internet: Evidence from a Real-World Pricing Experiment," Discussion Papers 964, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. [Downloadable!]
  3. Nicholas Economides, 2007. "“Net Neutrality,” Non-Discrimination and Digital Distribution of Content Through the Internet," Working Papers 07-03, NET Institute, revised Mar 2007. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Austan Goolsbee, 2001. "The Implications of Electronic Commerce for Fiscal Policy (and Vice Versa)," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 13-23, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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