FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has tapped Steven Wildman to fill the FCC chief economist position opening starting January 2013.
Wildman specializes in communications and media issues and currently serves as the James H. Quello Chair of Telecommunications Studies and the acting chair of the department of telecommunication, information studies and media at Michigan State University.
Wildman replaces outgoing Chief Economist Marius Schwartz, who will resume his duties as a professor of economics at Georgetown University.
“He has a stellar record as an economist and has conducted important research on broadband adoption and spectrum management, among other topics,” Genachowski said of Wildman.
Wildman’s work looks at the intersection of economics, law and policy in the communications industry. He also examines the impact of information technologies on the organization of economic activities. Wildman has researched broadband adoption through examining infrastructure cost structures and demand in rural and underserved areas, as well as the efficiency properties of alternative spectrum governance regimes and network interconnection policy.
Wildman has previously worked as an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Dept. of Communications Studies and at the University of California’s Dept. of Economics. He holds a doctoral in economics from Stanford University.
