beware of statistical designs
Misleading statistics on the declining farm share have supported agricultural subsidies. Beware of tendentious use of statistics. … Read the post beware of statistical designs
universal service
the goal of universal service
In 1913 in its magazine Western Electric News, AT&T associated “universal service” with national political identity. Universal service meant one policy, one system. That system was AT&T, the Bell System. By 1913, the U.S. had become a world leader in the prevalence of telephones. Small, non-AT&T telephone companies developed rural telephone service relatively rapidly. Universal … Continue reading the goal of universal service
extraordinary U.S. rural telephone development
Early in the twentieth century, telephone prevalence in some rural U.S. states far exceeded that in major cities around the world. For example, Nebraska in 1914 averaged only 15 persons per mile of road. More than 99% of its roads were dirt (unsurfaced) roads. Yet across the rural, agricultural state of Nebraska in 1912 were … Continue reading extraordinary U.S. rural telephone development
leaders in the early spread of telephone service
About 1893, the country leading the world in telephones per 100 persons (teledensity) was Sweden. Telephone service in Sweden developed through a variety of institutional forms: the International Bell Telephone Company (a U.S. multinational), town and village co-operatives, the General Telephone Company of Stockholm (a Swedish private company), and the Swedish Telegraph Department (part of … Continue reading leaders in the early spread of telephone service
subsidizing high-cost telephone lines stimulates growth
From its beginnings, the U.S. telephone industry has included many small telephone companies. Over time government programs have been established to subsidize small, high-cost telephone companies.[1] Under the High-Cost Loop Support program, about $1 billion in subsidies were given in 2007 to incumbent local-exchange telephone companies (ILECs) that had relatively high-cost loops.[2] The subsidy to … Continue reading subsidizing high-cost telephone lines stimulates growth