Tech Policy Expert Brent Skorup Joins Mercatus Center at George Mason University

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is pleased to announce the addition of Brent Skorup as a research fellow with its Technology Policy Program. Skorup will focus on the regulation of technology, telecommunications, radio spectrum, and media markets.

Skorup has co-written Mercatus research papers on federal spectrum policy, cronyism in the technology sector, and antitrust standards in the tech economy. His work has appeared in several law reviews, The Hill, US News & World Report, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Businessweek, and San Francisco Chronicle. He also contributes to the Technology Liberation Front, a leading technology policy blog.

With the ongoing debate at the federal level over how to efficiently use radio spectrum, Skorup has proposed establishing a congressional commission to determine spectrum allocation for federal users and put up newly available spectrum for auction. He has also called for having an agency similar to the General Services Administration take ownership of federal spectrum and “rent” it to agencies at a fair market value.

“There is a massive and growing demand for wireless services, so it’s important to keep up the momentum to have the government free up its unused spectrum and repurpose it for private sector use,” he says.

At the state level, Skorup says that policymakers will need to update their regulatory structure to better encourage innovation. In particular, rules that require telecommunications companies to continue using and maintaining copper wire networks take resources away from the development of faster IP networks.

Skorup previously served as director of operations and research for the Information Economy Project at the George Mason University School of Law, applying law and economics to telecommunications policy. He has a BA in economics from Wheaton College and received his JD at Mason.