Bringing Broadband To Unserved Areas

Developing a National Broadband Strategy: Deployment, Adoption and the Stimulus

Wednesday, June 17, 2009


Bringing Broadband to the Unserved: An Economic Framework

Scott Wallsten

Technology Policy Institute


Market failure?

yesno

What is it?

Other objectives?

(equity, merit goods)

• Clear, measurable goals.• Cost-effective plan.• Evaluate rigorously.

yesstopstop

no

information externality

Tailor policy to problem

Expect benefits > costs?

no

yes


Market Working Well Overall…


But Market Not Working for All People in All Places…


Gaps reflect a market failure only if total benefits > total costs of connecting ‘have-nots’.

Possible market failures:•Positive Externalities: everyone benefits with more people online•Information: people don’t know what they’re missing


• Benefit to household from subscribing = PB (private benefit)• Positive externality = E• Cost to connect = C

• Assume C > PB.

• If C <= PB + E then nonsubscriber does reflect a market failure.• If C > PB + E then nonsubscriber does not reflect a market failure.

Existence of nonsubscribers does not necessarily indicate a market failure.

Difficult to know whether nonsubscriber reflects market failure or not.

Do Nonsubscribers Reflect a Market Failure?


Economic Benefits of Residential Broadband

In 2006 broadband created about $10b in new GDP. About $6b of that was new consumer surplus.

Greenstein, Shane M. and Ryan McDevitt. February, 2009. "The Broadband Bonus: Accounting for Broadband Internet's Impact on U.S. GDP." NBER Working Paper # 14758.


Does New Broadband Investment Create Jobs?

New infrastructure: Construction and related jobs.(as long labor and capital do not move from other projects).

Presence of new broadband: Probably not too many.


No major availability market failure.No huge economic effects from connecting remainder

No longer the issue

Universal broadband IS the policy objective.

Question is how to achieve it in most cost-effective manner.


Why Do Non-Subscribers Not Subscribe?

Source: Pew (2009)


Biggest bang for buck in terms of improvements to consumer welfare and broadband penetration:

Helping low-income people connect (eg, One Economy model).

+

≈


Policies must have clearly defined, measurable goals

Broadband stimulus does not.• Is objective to maximize stimulus or broadband improvement?

71 Economists proposed competitive procurement (reverse auctions). • Forces government to clarify goals and make decisions rationally.• Can lead to lowest-cost subsidy and thus have biggest effect.


Build evaluation in from the beginning

• Ex post evaluation of grant recipients and funded projects is insufficient.

(Selection bias, difficult to determine if project was inframarginal)

• Success stories do not constitute evaluation and do not prove the grant was useful.

• Project failures do not prove that program failed. Government is supposed to take risks. If no project fails then probably being too conservative.


Better Data

Surveys, not (or at least in addition to) mapping!!

Advantages:

•Cheap because many government agencies conduct surveys already.o US Census American Community Surveyo Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Surveyo Bureau of Economic Analysis business surveys

• Consistently updated.

• Easily combined with socioeconomic and geographic data.

• Do not rely on cooperation from providers.


Conclusions:•Broadband is not really economic stimulus in policy sense.

•Universal broadband IS policy goal for other reasons.

•Policies designed to help low-income people connect are likely to be the most cost-effective first step.

•Define clear, measurable goals and get there in the lowest-cost way.

•Think carefully about evaluation.

•Coordinate government agencies to gather valuable data on broadband using existing surveys.


Bringing Broadband to the Unserved: An Economic Framework

Scott Wallsten

Technology Policy Institute




On the Road to Wired Health 3.0

XTreme Collaboration Hub

Carl W. Taylor

Center for Strategic Health Innovation


• Fragmented silos of paper driven care

• Sometimes our care in neither safe nor effective

• Rarely is our care cost conscious

• Almost always we have a herd driven one size fits most approach

• We are a supply driving demand industry searching for consumers

Our Common Present


Our Uncommon Future

• My EHR becomes a Me-HR

• My data is a visual image that I can understand

• My physicians provide care designed for me based on robust bioinformatics

• I am able to report my own health status through ubiquitous biosensors

• My medical home is my home


With a Path Ahead

• If we continue to understand our emergent coherence

• If we migrate to a fully integrated m health and e-health 3.0 platform

• If our sensor and imaging technology advances

• If our high performance computing supports new algorithms for social, clinical and geographical interdependencies


• My health care system can reach me anywhere anytime and I can reach back

But Only If


RMEDE


Ed Utilization


Diagnosis and Procedures


Home Monitoring


Threshold Violations


Quality to the Desktop


Cost Impact


Patients in Need


Ready for Me Health


• We need to recognize the same health fragility in our rural communities today is present during disasters

• And that H1N1 or something like it will produce even more dramatic stress on unconnected communities

And While on the Road


• AIMS Our Statewide Situational Awareness Tool.

The Current State of Affairs


AIMS creates reliance on public health based upon user perception that by inputting needs those can and will be met, without knowing whether the ESF structure can meet those needs.

The Current State of Affairs


• Many of the resources are hard coded-SNS stockpile, ventilators and may not match the real needs of rural patients or the healthcare providers.

• ESF handoffs are no assurance of a fulfillment of a request particularly in rural communities

• Even relatively small events can be the tipping point to push rural health systems to being overwhelmed

Barriers to Being Transactional


• We need to recognize that there is a gap between that which we can do and that which needs to be done

• We need to fill in that gap by creating greater capability in our rural health care providers and giving them the tools to succeed

• We can do that by moving to a more robust communication structure including virtual response

Which Means


An always on virtual system of response and care when IT happens

With the ability to allow anyone, anywhere to help

Assuming there is bandwidth to connect the dots

The Path to Emergent Coherence


Any situational awareness information from any source

I Track


To use discussions for specific information sharing realizing rural communities may not be the first site to experience the event.

Forums


The ability to ask for anything from anyone

I Need


The ability to find the right resource and to close the transaction

I Can Help


Mobile Imaging Technology


Crowd sourcing as an effective surveillance tool

I Saw


Extensible inclusion of emerging tools with the ability to connect any cell phone to any laptop anywhere in the world.

Ushahidi


Connecting patients with their records no matter where treated and using data to prioritize care.

RMEDE


An instant ability to suggest workarounds when your plan fails

I Have an Idea


The need for subject matter experts, patient centric health information and tools to manage today and see tomorrow.

I Know


From Disconnected In Health and Disasters


To Connected Anywhere Always


Questions


On the Road to Wired Health 3.0

XTreme Collaboration Hub

Carl W. Taylor

Center for Strategic Health Innovation




Ron Packard

K12, Inc.


Hunter School Case Study

After just one full year of using K12, the Hunter School achieved impressive gains on the Pennsylvania PSSA state math exams (see chart).

William H. Hunter School - School District of Philadelphia

About Hunter School• Located in Norris Square neighborhood• 600 students in grades K-8• 95% qualify for free/reduced lunches • 25% study English as a Second Language (ESL)• Numerous bilingual classrooms

Results

In 2004, K12 became the sole provider of math, science, art, and history in a traditional brick and mortar classroom. K12 provided a full-time trainer for support.

K12 Scope of Work

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2004 2005 2006 2007

Year

% P

rofic

ient Grade 3

Grade 5

K12 Involved K12 Not Involved


Draper Elementary Case Study

After just 3 months of using K12 Science, Draper Elementary achieved impressive results on the DC CAS 5th grade Science test.

Draper Elementary School – District of Columbia Public Schools

About Draper Elementary School• Located in the Anacostia neighborhood of Southeast DC• Approximately 125 students in grades PK-6• 100% qualify for free/reduced lunches • 20% of the students tested receive Special Education services

Results

In February 2008, K12 became the sole provider of science. In September 2008 K12 Math was implemented as a supplement to their existing Math curriculum. K12 provided a trainer for on-site support.

K12 Scope of Work

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% A

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2008

Year

Results of the DC-CAS Fifth Grade Science Test

Draper ES

DCPS


Fuller Normal Advanced Technology Charter School Case Study

After just two years of using the K12 curriculum, FNATCS made the highest gains in Math of any school in SC.

Fuller Normal Advanced Technology Charter School- Greenville, SC

About FNATCS• 120 students in grades K-6• 98% qualify for free/reduced lunches• 10% qualify for Special Education services • Won the 2007 InnoVision Technology Award for Innovation in

Education for the state

Results

In 2006, the first year of the charter, the FNATCS Board of Directors contracted with K12 for their math, science, history and art curriculum. K12 provided a full-time trainer for daily on-site support.

K12 Scope of Work Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test- Math

2007 2008 Difference

gr. 3 78.5 77.2 -1.3gr. 4 78.1 79.0 0.9gr. 5 77.2 77.6 0.4

gr. 3 81.8 81.7 -0.1gr. 4 78.8 80.8 2.0gr. 5 79.6 80.2 0.6

gr. 3 52.6 76.9 24.3gr. 4 20.0 68.4 48.4gr. 5 34.8 62.5 27.7

South Carolina

Greenville School District

FNATCS


North Panola School District Case Study

North Panola School District, Panola County, MS

About the North Panola School District• Located in northern Mississippi• Three elementary schools; one junior high school• Approximately 1200 students in grades K-8• 95+% qualify for free/reduced lunches• All schools are Title 1

The Mississippi Department of Education, under the guidance of State Superintendent Bounds, engaged K12 to help improve the daily instruction of math and science in the North Panola School District, which was recently taken over by the state. In August 2008, K12 became the sole provider of Math and Science for the three elementary schools and one junior high school in the district. As a result of this partnership, K12 provides:

• Math and Science curriculum materials

• Online School access for teachers, students and parents

• A trainer at each site for daily on-site support and professional development

• Promethean Boards for every classroom using the program

• Scantron Performance Series for Math and Science

K12 Scope of Work

Green Hill Elementary Crenshaw Elementary

Como Elementary and Junior High School


Students With K12 Schools For Grades K - 4

Math Reading

Performance Relative to

State Average Across Six States

+18+20


K12 Delivers For Its Customers96% Parent Satisfaction with K¹²

Curriculum

89% Very Satisfied

0

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2030

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7080

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100

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

Math Reading

Academic Performance Improves With Tenure

% Proficiency Versus # of Years In K12 School