Markets and states in the information society: A comparative institutional analysis of telecommunications policy in the United States and France

The literature on institutions suggests that the relationship between markets and states affects the allocation of political and economic resources in societies. This dissertation proceeds from the assumption that information is a key resource of democratic systems. Via a binary comparison of the United States and France, it analyzes the effect of divergent telecommunications regimes on public access to information. The American telecommunications regulatory framework relies on market incentives and private ownership, while the state-led French model is based on public ownership and centralized regulatory authority. Indices of telecommunications efficiency, such as the financial performance of the major network operators, support the argument that each model can produce similar outcomes. This study analyzes whether these disparate regulatory models also produced comparable levels of access to information or if this outcome varied. Access to information refers inclusively to both access to the telecommunications network and to information services carried by the network. The indices of access include measures of household penetration of specific building blocks of the information superhighway, such as telephones, computers, modems and the Internet, as well as the estimated number of users per capita of these technologies and services. The specified relationship between institutions and public access to the network is observed within two countries and across four technological cases: the telephone, videotex, computers and the Internet. The findings support the hypothesis that institutions shape the allocation of information, though institutions are not the only decisive factor. Level of development, in particular, is also a significant factor in generating access to information. However, by mediating actors' strategies and defining how the goals of universal service and public service are to be reached, institutions exert a demonstrable effect on the type of network that develops and the level of access achieved. The findings further suggest that the state has an important function to perform in the research and development of information technologies, the creation of an initial demand for advanced information services, and the promotion of nonprofit and civic applications of information technology.