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1968 Wash. U. L. Q. 26 (1968)
Management of the Frequency Spectrum

handle is hein.journals/walq1968 and id is 34 raw text is: MANAGEMENT OF THE FREQUENCY SPECTRUM* WILLIAM H. MECKLING** The most striking feature of the history of domestic and international frequency spectrum management has been the general failure to recognize the fundamental nature of the problem. The wellspring of the confusion has been the belief that interference is a technical problem peculiar to the use of frequency spectrum. In fact, interference is simply a manifestation of scarcity. It is not possible for all those who would like to use the spec- trum to do so without affecting the amount of the resource available to others. The analogy to other resources, land, labor, and capital, is so ob- vious as not to require elaboration. Any effort to improve frequency management must be built on a recog- nition that frequency spectrum is an economic resource in no significant way different from the mass of other resources available to society. By the same token, the central function of any frequency management system must be to resolve the conflict among competing potential uses for the resource. From the standpoint of social action, the central question is what institu- tional framework should be promulgated to resolve this conflict. While this paper is directed primarily to discussing alternative systems for managing frequency spectrum, the choice of such a system is not the important barrier to improvement in the existing situation. The real bar- rier to progress is the problem of provoking political action. Frequency spec- trum is managed today in much the same manner as the commons were on feudal estates in the Middle Ages; while we may not be able to prescribe the optimal management system, we can improve substantially on that state of affairs. Frequency spectrum is the only resource of any consequence for which: (1) All use rights are defined by government and then given away; * This paper was among those commissioned jointly by Resources for the Future, Inc. and the Brookings Institution, both of Washington, D.C., and served as the basis of discussion at a symposium held September 11 and 12, 1967, at Airlie House, Warrenton, Virginia. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent those of the trustees, officers, or staff of either sponsoring organization. ** Professor and Dean, College of Business Administration, University of Rochester.

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