1. Advice to Aspiring Policy Entrepreneurs
Evan Kwerel
Senior Economic Advisor
Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis
Federal Communications Commission
December 1, 2017

2. What is a policy entrepreneur?
A visionary – who sees new ways to solve policy problems and perhaps make the world better
A risk taker – who is willing advocate untested ideas despite the risk of rejection and failure
Is this what you aspire to? You need find your own niche.

3. Overview To bring about change it is not enough to have good ideas
You must be able to sell you ideas to the right people at the right time
It takes persistence, resourcefulness and patience

4. A good idea doesn’t have to be original
Recognizing someone else’s good idea can be as important as coming up with something original
You need to be able to adapt it to your organization’s circumstances and sell it.

5. Personal examples of promoting other’s ideas
The idea of spectrum auctions goes back to 1959
I am sometimes called “the father of FCC spectrum auction,” although spectrum auctions weren’t my idea. Ronald Coase proposed it 1959 and many others advocated for it before me.
But my 1985 FCC working paper with Lex Felker, “Using Auctions to Select FCC Licensees” was very influential, in part, because it addressed many of the concerns of opponents of spectrum auctions
I relentlessly supported efforts to get legislative authority and worked tirelessly to implement the auction once legislation was passed.
The novel auction design used in the FCC’s first spectrum auctions was proposed by Milgrom, Wilson and McAfee.
The FCC’s initial proposal for spectrum auctions had a simple design that I developed.
Milgrom, Wilson and McAfee, academic auction experts hired by potential bidders, proposed a better design. I recognized that it was better and became an advocate.

6. Change can take a long time – be patient
The first FCC auctions – 9 years
May 1985 – “Using Auctions to Select FCC Licensees” with Alex Felker. OPP Working Paper 16
August Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act gave FCC auction authority
March FCC adopted general auction rules
July FCC conducted first spectrum license auction (10 licenses), using electronic simultaneous multiple round bidding at a single auction site

7. Change can take a long time – be patient (2)
Incentive Auction – 15 years
November “Changing Channels: Voluntary Reallocation of UHF Television Spectrum” with John Williams. OPP Working Paper 27
November “A Proposal for a Rapid Transition to Market Allocation of Spectrum” with John Williams. OPP Working Paper 38
April FCC created the Broadband Task Force to create the National Broadband Plan (Implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 signed February 2009)
March FCC issues: Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan, with two pages recommending Congress give the FCC authority to conduct incentive (two-sided) auctions
February Congress authorized incentive auctions - Title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Spectrum Act)
March 2016 Broadcast Incentive Auction commenced with broadcaster commitments at opening prices
March 2017 bidding concluded

8. You need a patron
A policy entrepreneur needs a patron to make fundamental change in an organization
A patron is someone who has the trust of the key decision maker(s) (e.g. the Chairman of the FCC) and trusts you and your ideas.
Personal examples
Basic auction authority – Peter Pitsch, the head of OPP, had the ear of the Chairman and totally supported my efforts for using auctions to award FCC spectrum licenses.
Incentive auctions – Paul DeSa, the head of OSP, had the ear of the Chairman and sold him on my idea of using an incentive auction to repurpose broadcast spectrum. I also had direct access to the head of the Broadband Task Force.

9. Be persistent but flexible
Be persistent in pursuing your goals but flexible in how you achieve them. (Following the North Star doesn’t mean going in a straight line).
Listen to objections to your ideas and figure out how to address them without giving up the core of your proposal. If you don’t take other’s ideas seriously, you will be marginalized.

10. Timing matters You need to have the right idea at the right time.
Personal example – I was working on two-sided auctions for repurposing broadcast spectrum before the Broadband Task Force was created and sought to allocate more spectrum for mobile broadband. When the head of the Task Force showed up I had an alternative approach to sell.
“Too soon or too late”
Opponents will argue that it is either too soon or too late to consider your idea. For defenders of the status quo there is never daylight between too soon and too late.
Get ahead of the bureaucracy. Once an initiative is underway it is usually too late to make fundamental changes. New ideas are seen as obstacles to meeting external deadlines.

11. See your job broadly
See your job as doing whatever it takes to see your ideas adopted and implemented.
Personal examples
First auction – picking the right spectrum – Goldilocks principle – small enough that it was “simple” to implement and not so valuable that a failure would be a disaster, but valuable enough that people would take notice if it succeeded.
Incentive Auction –
Advocating for hiring outside experts to design and implement the auction
Developing legal justification for spending money to implement a policy for which we did not have legal authority
Hiring someone to work with me on contracting and other implementation issues.

12. Don’t work alone
Collaborators can stimulate you to develop new ideas, improve your work, make work fun, and have complementary expertise.

13. Collaborate with outside experts
Difficult economic and technical problems can best be solved when the government effectively collaborates with outside experts and stakeholders.
Example: The Broadcast Incentive
The FCC contracted with a team of world-class academic economists, computer scientists and software developers to work with the FCC auction team in developing and implementing the auction design.
The FCC also contracted with a leading spectrum engineering firm to develop the software that was essential to repacking television stations.
The FCC gathered valuable input from industry stakeholders through its extensive comment process, numerous meetings, and in-depth workshops.