Mises Wire
Crushing Innovation: The Case of FM Radio
Those who continue to tout the positive role of the state in technological innovation ("the gov't made the Internet!") should read this chilling tale of what happened to the inventor of FM radio, Edwin Armstrong. In short, the FCC and established big businessmen (naming names: David Sarnoff of RCA) kept FM buried for decades and devastated its inventor. Monstrous!
An excellent article (pdf) by B.K. Marcus in the current JLS contains a thorough account of the origins of radio regulation in the U.S. and how Rothbardian property theory solves the problems of allocating spectrum... With no need for the fascist FCC.
[Thanks Digg]
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