To infinity and beyond: rhetorical methods in telecommunications economic policy discourse

Proposes an interdisciplinary contribution to policy analysis, with particular emphasis on the political economy of the new telecommunications. The rhetorical tropes produced by technical expertise and public decision-making suggest that new forms of policy analysis match the economic analysis challenges presented by telematics. Such policy analysis characterizes the commodity forms ranging from interactive television program content to electronic postal messages and cannot be reduced to price data. Terms such as 'cyberspace' and 'National Information Infrastructure' become important rhetorical figures in analyzing an information market that is not merely an exchange mechanism but a forum for policy persuasion. This paper examines some of the recent public and private sector policy debates regarding electromagnetic spectrum auctions and their bandwidth implications for the development of new territorial conceptions of market area. The debate over externalities should be seen as one where the problems of bargaining and negotiation are economic games which do not simply reflect individualism or transaction costs but also become complex socially constructed problems in communication.