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Democracy & Technology Blog Policy Drives Stocks

Bret Swanson
July 11, 2005
Economic Policy

It’s impossible to model the stock market with absolute certainty. But is it a coincidence that since the FCC announced a week ago it would seek some measure of deregulation for telecom companies, the technology heavy Nasdaq has risen over 4 percent? Before the Supreme Court Brand X decision and the related FCC statements, the Nasdaq had been down year-to-date about 6 percent. Now we’re close to even for the year.

Our Gilder Technology Index, which is even more concentrated in technology, is up almost 6 percent in the last week.

Several of my Discovery colleagues have voiced valid concerns that the Brand X case confirms and centralizes the FCC’s powers — often an ominous thing, to be sure — but if the FCC follows through on its recent directional statements, it will be good for the economy and stocks. So far the market seems to think so.

-Bret Swanson

Bret Swanson

Bret Swanson is a Senior Fellow at Seattle's Discovery Institute, where he researches technology and economics and contributes to the Disco-Tech blog. He is currently writing a book on the abundance of the world economy, focusing on the Chinese boom and developing a new concept linking economics and information theory. Swanson writes frequently for the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal on topics ranging from broadband communications to monetary policy.