American Regulatory Federalism and Telecommunications Infrastructure

Advance Praise... Divestiture, relaxed federal regulation, and a judicial swing in favor of state authority have once again made federalism an important topic in telecommunications policy. Paul Teske has assembled the best compendium to date on shared federal and state regulation of arguably our most important infrastructural industry. The book is a must for anyone interested in the policy choices that are shaping the information superhighway. -Roger Noll Stanford University This very thoughtful and well balanced book will add substantially to our understanding of the highly complex and controversial issues involved. The presentation is of a high standard. -Martin C.J. Elton New York University The selections in this book, many from among the most prominent people in their fields...bring us up to date on a rapidly changing policy area. They offer a variety of perspectives across several disciplines, including political science, economics, history, law, and communications. The studies are of uniformly high quality, and the combination of so many fields on the same topic displays the utility of interdisciplinary approaches. One important feature of the book is that major papers are followed by several commentaries, offering differing and sometimes critical perspectives. This enlivens the book immeasurably. Another important feature is that authors are not content only to describe the current state of affairs, but make policy suggestions for the future. This should stimulate policy debate and discussion within the telecommunications policy community, as well as the wider political system. This book is a welcome addition to the telecommunications policy, regulation, and federalism subfields, and is suitable for use in a wide range of courses. -Jeffrey E. Cohen The University of Kansas