Michael L. Katz 15 July 2009
Broadband Rankings Suck Michael L. Katz 15 July 2009
3-point plan 4 bein #1 w/o tryin 2 hard Break up rich families. Divorce may be bad for children, but it’s great for our OECD rankings. Declare business connections to be “home-style.” If canned soup companies can do it, so can the FCC. Glue your mobile phone to the wall. Added bonus: it will stimulate the economy by promoting glue sales.
What’s wrong with bad metrics? Present a misleading picture. Drive bad decision making.
Some Desirable Properties of Performance Metrics Measure something we care about. Relate to a meaningful welfare goal. How about people, not facilities? Allow for meaningful comparisons. Implementable at reasonable cost.
Four-Point Program for Progress Give up on the idea that we should reduce this important, complex problem to a simple index. Develop measures of individuals’ access and use of modern telecommunications. Collect more demand-side data. Add questions to government surveys. Recognize that way more than speed matters. Target programs at low-income consumers.