Two Think Minimum

William Kovacic and Jon Nuechterlein on Agency Independence and Humphrey's Executor by Technology Policy Institute

Little Tech, Big Challenges: Competing in the AI Era with Matt Perault by Technology Policy Institute

AI Policy and the Future of Startups with Matt Perault by Technology Policy Institute

On the latest episode of Two Think Minimum, Gordon Crovitz, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of NewsGuard joins hosts Tom Lenard, Sarah Oh Lam, and Scott Wallsten to discuss the evolving landscape of news credibility, misinformation, and the role of media ratings. They discuss NewsGuard's approach to assessing news sources, the controversies surrounding its ratings, and the broader implications of government involvement in media regulation.

Stablecoin Policy and the Future of Crypto with Christian Catalini by Technology Policy Institute

In this episode of Two Think Minimum, Nicolas Petit, Chair in Competition Law at the European University Institute, joins hosts Tom Lenard, Scott Wallsten, and Sarah Oh Lam to explore the pressing challenges facing European competitiveness. Drawing insights from the recent Draghi Report, Petit discusses Europe's innovation gaps, the role of big tech, and the critical policy shifts needed to secure the region's economic future.

On the latest episode of Two Think Minimum, TPI hosts Tom Lenard, Sarah Oh Lam, and Scott Wallsten explore the world of polls and prediction markets with Aristotle CEO John Phillips and General Counsel David Mason. Aristotle helps run PredictIt, a platform which enables research into how markets can forecast events in real-time. The conversation covers how PredictIt is navigating CFTC regulation, the broad value of small-dollar prediction markets to understanding public opinion and risk forecasting, and how PredictIt determines which questions to create contracts for. This episode offers valuable insights for anyone interested in the intersection of market dynamics, public opinion, and data-driven insights.

The Economics of AI: Prediction Machines and Their Impact with Ajay Agrawal by Technology Policy Institute

In this episode of Two Think Minimum, Ellen Goodman, a distinguished professor of law at Rutgers Law School and former Senior Advisor for Algorithmic Justice at NTIA, U.S. Department of Commerce discusses artificial intelligence accountability policy. The podcast revolves around the NTIA AI Accountability Policy Report, which was released in March 2024, which Goodman was the principal author of. Goodman shares insights into the process of gathering and analyzing public comments for the report, the challenges of defining accountability in the context of AI, and the complexities of establishing standards in a rapidly evolving field. The conversation also touches on the potential impact of AI on labor markets, the role of auditors in ensuring AI accountability, and the government's own use of AI technology. Goodman concludes by discussing her current research on AI and copyright issues, particularly the copyrightability of AI-generated outputs.

In this episode of Two Think Minimum, MIT Professor Catherine Tucker discusses her research on competition policy and artificial intelligence. The discussion focuses on how AI's unique cost structures differs from that of traditional digital economics, how economists think about AI, and the implications of AI for competition policy and antitrust enforcement. Tucker explains that the current high fixed and marginal costs in AI are likely temporary, and that it's difficult to predict which firms will succeed in the AI industry. She also highlights the challenges AI poses for antitrust enforcement, such as the potential lack of "hot docs," the need for greater technical expertise among regulators, and the importance of understanding the role of data and algorithms in competition analysis.

In this episode of Two Think Minimum, Caroline Cecot, an associate professor of law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, talks about her recent article "The Meaning of ‘Silence.'" The discussion focuses on the potential consequences of narrowing the applicability of the Chevron doctrine and consequences on the major questions doctrine. She discusses the broader implications of overruling or limiting Chevron deference and the role of cost-benefit analysis in agency decision-making and the effect of the composition and views of the Supreme Court on administrative law issues.

FTC Actions on Antitrust Reforms with Ginger Jin and Liad Wagman by Technology Policy Institute

The latest episode of the TPI Two Think Minimum podcast featured guest Megan McArdle, discussing pressing issues at the intersection of technology and society. The podcast covered several topics related to technology, policy, and societal impact, emphasizing the need for careful consideration of the implications of technological advancements and regulatory actions. Key topics included the proposed U.S. legislation to ban or force a sale of TikTok over national security concerns, the biases detected in Google's AI system Gemini that favored certain political perspectives, and the broader societal adjustments that may be required as AI transforms various industries and jobs.

Growing Threats to Wireless Communications and How to Address Them by Technology Policy Institute

The journey to implementing spectrum auctions was not without its challenges. Evan Kwerel shed light on the initial resistance, particularly from the broadcasting industry and legislators. Concerns about market concentration and the potential costs of spectrum use were at the forefront of the debate. Despite these hurdles, the need for government revenue and the inefficiency of the existing system for cellular licenses were catalysts for change. Paul Milgrom provided a fascinating comparison between the United States and other countries. He noted the fragmented nature of the industry abroad and the various tactics used to suppress auction prices. In contrast, the U.S. wireless companies were less resistant, which played a part in the smoother implementation of spectrum auctions stateside.

The Perverse Effects of the Robinson-Patman Act https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/antibull31&div=37&id=&page=

Joe Nocera Discusses the Covid Policy Big Fail by Technology Policy Institute

On the most recent episode of TPI's podcast "Two Think Minimum," Dr. Meicen Sun, assistant professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign joined TPI's Scott Wallsten to discuss her research on the effects of a country's decision to control international internet traffic. She finds that China's Great Firewall has helped increase profits of Chinese firms, but at the cost of reducing research quality as scientific collaboration and connections wither. This result presents a dilemma for autocrats if they try to balance short-term and long-term effects.

Freedom of Speech in the Digital Age with Professor Jeff Kosseff by Technology Policy Institute

On the latest episode of TPI's podcast "Two Think Minimum," Xiaomeng Lu, a director at Eurasia Group, discussed the evolving dynamics of US-China relations related to technology policy with TPI's Scott Wallsten and Sarah Oh Lam. The discussion included implications of the CHIPS Act, strategic competition, semiconductor manufacturing, and the broader geopolitical landscape shaped by technology. The conversation highlighted how policy shifts and strategic decisions in both countries are shaping the future of global tech dominance and addressed the tension between domestic industrial policy and the globalized nature of the semiconductor industry.

How Technology Will Change Higher Education with Michael Smith by Technology Policy Institute

In the most recent episode of TPI's "Two Think Minimum" podcast, Michael Katz, Professor Emeritus at the Haas School of Business & Department of Economics, joined Tom Lenard, Sarah Oh Lam, and Scott Wallsten to discuss the intricacies of antitrust in light of current cases. The dialogue covered exclusionary behavior, with Katz highlighting potential antitrust agency strategies like the "No Economic Sense Test," and explored market definitions. The team also discussed ongoing trials, providing insights into potential legal strategies and considerations affecting case developments and outcomes.

On the latest episode of Two Think Minimum, Technology Policy Institute Senior Fellow Sarah Oh Lam and President and Senior Fellow Scott Wallsten welcomed Eugene Volokh, a distinguished law professor at UCLA School of Law, to discuss his new law review article on LLMs and liability for AI output. This episode focuses on the legal implications of AI-generated content, particularly in the realm of libel, the current legal landscape, and the potential need for new legislation to address emerging AI technologies.

AI and Tech in Europe with European Parliament's Peter Brown by Technology Policy Institute

On the latest episode of Two Think Minimum, TPI President and Senior Fellow Scott Wallsten and Senior Fellow Sarah Oh Lam interviewed Google's Head of Economic Policy Research, Dr. Guy Ben-Ishai, about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on economic performance and policy. They delve into AI's impacts on productivity and how the technology's economic benefits will be distributed.

Ryan Vaughan of Needham & Company delves into the world of mergers in the media, tech, and telecom industries, drawing insights from the recent attempted merger between Standard General and Tegna.

On the latest TPI Two Think Minimum podcast, Tom Lenard and Sarah Oh Lam interview John Samples from the Oversight Board about the board's policy advisory opinion on COVID-19 misinformation. The podcast covers the challenges of content moderation on a large platform like Facebook, with millions of pieces of content needing to be dealt with daily and the need for a more variegated decision-making process involving more interest groups. They also discuss the trade-offs involved in COVID-19 policies and the importance of transparency regarding government requests. The podcast covers the need for a clear understanding of what constitutes misinformation and the dangers of too much concentration of power in content moderation.

On this episode of Two Think Minimum we welcome Professor Kristina McElheran. We explore the impact of artificial intelligence and related technologies on workers, workplaces, and productivity. Dr. McElheran shares her expertise on the economics and strategic management of technological change and how digitization is changing how firms innovate and make data-driven decisions.

On this episode of Two Think Minimum, we welcome Greg Ip, Chief Economics Commentator at the Washington Post, to discuss the topic of industrial policy. Greg shares his insights on the role of government in shaping and directing economic activity in key sectors, such as manufacturing, technology, and energy. He explores the history of industrial policy in the United States, from its early days in the post-war era to the present day, and examines how it has evolved. Greg also discusses the challenges and opportunities of implementing effective industrial policy in today's rapidly changing global economy and shares his thoughts on what policymakers can do to promote growth and innovation in key industries.

This episode of Two Think Minimum focuses on prediction markets and their regulation. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently tried to shut down Predictit, a leading prediction market, but the Fifth Circuit granted a temporary injunction to allow the site to continue operating. We interview two executives of Aristotle, the firm that incubated and helps run Predictit: John Phillips, CEO of Aristotle, and David Mason, Aristotle's general counsel.

Jane Horvath joins Two Think Minimum to chat about privacy policy. She shares the serendipitous way she became a privacy expert in the early days at a technology start up. She also discusses the need for a baseline omnibus privacy law in the US. Jane recently became a partner at Gibson Dunn, where she is co-chair of the Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Innovation Practice Group. She built and led Apple's privacy legal team, most recently serving as Apple's Chief Privacy Officer. And before that, she worked in privacy for Google, the US Department of Justice, and Digital City.

Sujit Raman discusses the current state, regulatory framework, and future of cryptocurrency with us on Two Think Minimum. Sujit is General Counsel at TRM Labs, a leading blockchain and Web3analytics company that helps organizations detect, assess, and investigate crypto related fraud and financial crime. Previously, he was a partner at Sidley Austin, where he focused his practice on cybersecurity and data privacy issues, internal investigations, and white collar criminal defense. Earlier in his career, Mr. Raman served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General in the US Department of Justice, and he also helped oversee the DOJs cyber related policy development. In addition, he oversaw the creation of the Department's cryptocurrency enforcement framework, which remains federal law enforcement strategy blueprint for investigating crypto related crime.

Stuart Brotman joins Two Think Minimum to discuss the most recent Texas and Florida litigation concerning content moderation and the First Amendement. He shares ideas for creating cultural change around our nation's value of free speech. Stuart is the inaugural Howard Distinguished Endowed Professor of Media Management and Law and Beaman Professor of Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He has served in four presidential administrations on a bipartisan basis and has taught students from 42 countries in six separate disciplines. He also has advised private and public sector telecommunications, Internet media, entertainment, and sports clients in more than 30 countries on five continents.

Guest Avi Goldfarb discusses AI as prediction technology likely to transform our systems over a long period of time. Goldfarb is the Rotman Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare and a Professor of Marketing at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He's also Chief Data Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab, a Faculty Affiliate at the Vector Institute and the Schwartzman Institute for Technology and Society, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Avi's research focuses on the opportunities and challenges of the digital economy. Additionally, he is co-author of a new book titled Power and Prediction, The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence, which will be coming out on November 15th.

Jay Bhattacharya joins Two Think Minimum for a look at the responses of public health and economic experts to Covid-19. He asserts the need for a retrospective to learn from it, discussing his own criticisms of the professional communities. Jay is a professor of health policy at Stanford University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He directs Stanford Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. He co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, an open letter in response to the pandemic and lockdowns.

Michael Smith joins Two Think Minimum to discuss his work on video streaming, how traditional studios adapted to technological changes, and draws parallels to the future of higher education. He argues that technological change will disrupt the standard model of higher ed, which has barely changed in centuries. He says the current system is financially and morally unsustainable and that technology provides an opportunity to create a more inclusive and accessible system, which is the premise of his upcoming book. Michael is a professor of Information Technology and Marketing at Carnegie Mellon University.

Michael Rosenbaum is founder and executive chairman of Catalyte, a recognized leader in onshore agile application services working with clients onsite or from development centers in Baltimore, Md. and Portland, Ore., and CEO of Arena. Prior to starting Catalyte, Mike received an Irving R. Kaufman Fellowship to build the first version of what is now the company's analytics engine for talent selection and team assembly. Prior to that, he was a John M. Olin Fellow at Harvard University where he researched, wrote and taught on economics and law. Michael is also the CEO of Pegged Software. Michael is a frequent national speaker and contributor, sharing insights and advice on IT strategies and practices as they relate to application development, innovation, bi-modal sourcing, Agile, big data, onshoring and domestic sourcing. He has a JD from Harvard Law School, an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA from Harvard College.

Cathryn Ross is Strategy and Regulatory Affairs Director at Thames Water. She is responsible for shaping and embedding a strategy to ensure that Thames Water delivers for customers, communities and the environment. She is an experienced regulatory and competition economist and has worked across a number of different sectors advising on economic, regulatory and competition issues.

Julie Owono is the Executive Director of Internet Sans Frontières (Internet Without Borders), an inaugural member of the Facebook Oversight Board, and the Executive Director of the Content Policy & Society Lab, a project of the Progam on Democracy and the Internet at Stanford University. At the intersection of Business and Human Rights, her work focuses on creating channels of collaboration between different set of actors of the Internet. She is particularly interested in finding policy and technical solutions to foster collaborations for a better content moderation on online platforms. Julie is an Affiliate of the Berkman Kleine Center on Internet and Society at Harvard University, a member of the Global Partnership on AI (AI) created by France and Canada, of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on AI for Humanity, of the WEF Council on the Connected World. She was also a member of UNESCO's Ad Hoc Expert Group (AHEG) for the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, a Member of the World Benchmarking Alliance's Expert Committee on Digital Inclusion, and a Civil Society member of the Global Network Initiative's Board. Julie graduated in International Law from La Sorbonne University in Paris, and practiced as a lawyer at the Paris Bar.

Tim Muris was chairman of the FTC from 2001 to 2004. He was director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection from 1981 to 1983 and of the Bureau of Competition from 1983 to 1985 and an assistant to the director of the Office of Policy Planning and Evaluation from 1974 to 1976. He currently is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School, senior counsel at Sidley Austin and a visiting senior fellow at AEI [American Enterprise Institute]. Howard Beales was director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC from 2001 to 2004. He was associate director for policy and evaluation from 1983 to 1987. He was an assistant to the director from 1981 to 1983 and a staff economist from 1977 to 1981. He currently is emeritus professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy at the George Washington University School of Business and a visiting senior fellow at AEI.

Joel Waldfogel is Associate Dean of MBA programs at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. He was previously the Ehrenkranz Family Professor of Business and Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, where he served as department chair and associate vice dean. Prior to Wharton, he was an associate professor of economics at Yale University.

Jennifer Fauver joins Two Think Minimum to discuss her new research paper entitled, “Putting a Number on the Debate: An Empirical Assessment of the U.S. Federal Antitrust Enforcement by State Attorneys General.” The article focuses on the enduring debate regarding the appropriate role for State AGs in federal antitrust enforcement. She adds to the empirical legal studies literature with a novel dataset of antitrust enforcement by state attorneys general from the last twenty years. She provides a cost-benefit analysis of State AG enforcement institutions. Jenn has more than 20 years of experience in law and economics, having worked for NERA Economic Consulting in antitrust litigation. She is a recent graduate of George Mason's Antonin Scalia Law School and headed off to private practice at Wilson Sonsini this fall.

Today, we are delighted to have as our guest, Evan Kwerel, who is Senior Economic Advisor at the Federal Communications Commission. The impact of Evan's career at the FCC was recognized last year, when he was awarded the 2021 Paul Volcker Career Achievement Award for pioneering the use of spectrum auctions. To get an idea of what Evan has accomplished and to introduce the discussion, let me read the first couple of paragraphs from the citation. “During more than three decades as a Federal Communications Commission economist, Evan Kwerel has been a key driver of America's wireless revolution, establishing the first-ever competitive auctions to allocate public airwaves for the transmission of sound, data, and video across the country while raising billions of dollars for the government. The market-based FCC auctions of electromagnetic spectrum, the radio frequencies that carry voices between cell phones, television shows from broadcasters and online information from one computer to the next, were conceived and implemented by Kwerel based on many of the theories of 2020 Nobel Prize-winning economists Paul Milgrom and Bob Wilson. Since the early 1990s, a total of 107 FCC spectrum auctions have generated more than $200 billion in revenue for the government. After winning the Nobel Prize, Milgrom wrote that ‘Evan's individual contributions were so major that it would have been appropriate for him to share this prize.'”

Stan is a Senior Consultant with Charles River Associates. He's a nationally recognized expert in the economics of intellectual property rights, telecommunications policy, and telecommunications and computer standards. Stan has taught at Rice, Columbia, and the Georgetown University Law Center. And in government, he was a Brookings Economic Policy Fellow for the Office of Telecommunications Policy and the Executive Office of the President and Co-Director of the Network Inquiry Special Staff at the Federal Communications Commission. Prior to joining CRA, he was a Senior Economist at the Rand Corporation. Phil is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. Phil has practiced communications and antitrust law in the government and private law firms for nearly five decades. In the Obama administration, he served as Senior Counselor to the FCC chairman. And before that, as Ambassador and US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy. Earlier in his career, he was an antitrust prosecutor at the DOJ, where he was lead counsel for the US v. AT&T case, and also at the FTC, and he has been chief of three FCC bureaus.

As states ramp up their efforts to distribute broadband funding, policymakers will need data to help them identify the areas of their state that are in dire need of investment. On the latest edition of Two Think Minimum, Scott Wallsten, Sarah Oh, and Nathaniel Lovin discussed TPI's broadband mapping initiative, which aims to put existing metrics into context and provide decision-makers with actionable intelligence. By harnessing the power of cloud computing, TPI's broadband map allows users to seamlessly combine datasets and arrive at insights that would have been impossible to glean from a single source.

Adam Kovacevich is the founder and CEO of the Chamber of Progress, a new, center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology's progressive future. The organization works to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly. Adam is a veteran Democratic tech industry leader who has had a front-row seat for more than 20 years in the tech industry's political maturation.

Jonathan Make is the former Executive Editor at Warren Communications, which includes Comms Daily, where he's also a journalist. He joined the Warren Communications staff in 2005 after covering the industry at Bloomberg, and after moving to Washington in 2003 to research the FCC as part of a master's degree in Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. In his next role, Jonathan will be joining the Cheyenne Wyoming Daily Metropolitan Newspaper as an editor.

John List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on questions in microeconomics, with a particular emphasis on using field experiments to address both positive and normative issues. For decades his field experimental research has focused on issues related to the inner-workings of markets, the effects of various incentives schemes on market equilibria and allocations, how behavioral economics can augment the standard economic model, on early childhood education and interventions, and most recently on the gender earnings gap in the gig economy (using evidence from rideshare drivers).

Bruce Mehlman is the founding partner of Mehlman, Castagnetti, Rosen & Thomas, one of Washington's premier lobbying and government relations firms. Bruce has over two decades of experience in public policy, business, and the law, helping leaders in organizations understand, anticipate, and navigate political risk. He is a highly sought-after speaker on policy and political trends. His slide decks analyzing major issues and trends are consistently picked up by national news media and eagerly consumed by tens of thousands of readers around the world, including us. Among his many previous positions, he was Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy in the George Bush administration.

Blair Levin is the Policy Advisor to New Street Research and a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Project at the Brookings Institution. He also served as Chief of Staff to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, directed the writing of the United States National Broadband Plan, where I worked for him, and was a Policy Analyst for the Equity Research Teams at Legg Mason and Stifel Nicolaus, in addition to many other activities. Gregory Rosston is the Gordon Cain Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and Director of the Stanford Public Policy Program. He served as Deputy Chief Economist at the Federal Communications Commission, working on the implementation of the Telecommunications Act in 1996, and he helped design and implement the first-ever spectrum auction in the United States.

Professor Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. Professor Coyle co-directs the Bennett Institute where she heads research under the themes of progress and productivity. She is also a Director of the Productivity Institute, a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics, an expert adviser to the National Infrastructure Commission, and Senior Independent Member of the ESRC Council. She has served in public service roles including as Vice Chair of the BBC Trust, member of the Competition Commission, of the Migration Advisory Committee and of the Natural Capital Committee. Professor Coyle was awarded a CBE for her contribution to the public understanding of economics in the 2018 New Year Honours. Her new book, "Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be," is available now.