{{Short description|American economist (born 1952)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox economist | name = Thomas W. Hazlett | school_tradition = Austrian School | image = Thomas-Hazlett.jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1952}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | institution = | field = | alma_mater = | influences = Carl Menger<br />Friedrich Hayek | influenced = | contributions = | awards = | signature = <!-- file name only --> | repec_prefix = f | repec_id = pha495 }} '''Thomas W. Hazlett''' is the Hugh H. Macaulay Endowed Professor of Economics in the John E. Walker Department of Economics at Clemson University where he also directs the Information Economy Project.

Hazlett's essays have appeared in the ''Wall Street Journal'', ''New York Times'', ''The Economist'', ''The New Republic'', ''The Weekly Standard'', and ''Time''. He was a New Technology Policy Forum columnist for the ''Financial Times'', 2002–11, and wrote the "Selected Skirmishes" column for [http://reason.com/search?f%5Bauthor%5D%5B%5D=thomas-w-hazlett&q=*&s=-pubdate ''Reason''] magazine (1989–2000). He is a founding partner of the consulting firm, Arlington Economics, with economists David Porter and Vernon L. Smith. He serves as a Director of the Telecommunications Research Policy Conference, and is a member of the editorial boards of INFO, Telecommunications Policy, and the Supreme Court Economic Review. Hazlett is the author of several books, most recently releasing ''The Political Spectrum: The Tumultuous Liberation of Wireless Technology, from Herbert Hoover to the Smartphone'' in May 2017.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hazlett|first1=Thomas|title=The Political Spectrum: The Tumultuous Liberation of Wireless Technology, From Herbert Hoover to the Smartphone|date=2017|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300210507}}</ref> A ''Wall Street Journal'' review called the ideas presented in the book "reason for cautious optimism about our wireless future."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rosston|first1=Gregory|title=Unlocking the Airwaves|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/unlocking-the-airwaves-1500232514|newspaper=Wall Street Journal}}</ref>

==Education and career== Hazlett earned a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA in 1984 and taught economics at the University of California at Davis and the Wharton School. In 1991–92, he served as Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission. He was a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute 1998–2001 and a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute 2001–2005. From 2005 to 2013, Hazlett was Professor of Law and Economics at George Mason University. In 2014, he moved to Clemson University in South Carolina where, in addition to his duties as Director of the Information Economy Project, he teaches classes on Law and Economics and the Economics of Regulation.

== Research == Hazlett's research is focused on the public choice and public policy aspects of regulatory measures in the communications sector. His 1990 article, "The Rationality of U.S. Regulation of the Broadcast Spectrum,"<ref>Hazlett, T.W. (April 1990). "The Rationality of U.S. Regulation of the Broadcast Spectrum," 33 ''Journal of Law and Economics''; abbreviated version reprinted in Benjamin, S.M., Shelanski, H.A., Speta, J.B., and Weiser, P.J. (2012) ''Telecommunications Law and Policy.'' Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press.</ref> presented a "revisionist"<ref>"In a pathbreaking paper Thomas Hazlett makes the case for a revisionist view of the history of broadcast regulation." Quotation from Spitzer, M.L. (Nov. 1989). "The Constitutionality of Licensing Broadcasters," 64 ''N.Y.U. Law Review'' 990 (Nov. 1989), 1043–1044.</ref> explanation as to why radio spectrum is allocated and licensed by regulators. The traditional view, given by the U.S. Supreme Court, was that policy makers were confronted by a "tragedy of the commons" and were forced by circumstances to manage wireless services. Ronald Coase critiqued the idea that government control was inevitable, but argued that policymakers were unaware of market alternatives. Hazlett showed that radio broadcasting actually developed according to common law property rules and that the move to political control was the result of pressure by incumbent radio stations and key policy makers (including Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover) to foreclose competitive entry.

As a policy advocate, Hazlett argued for auctions in assigning wireless licenses prior to Congressional approval of the reform in 1993,<ref>"Making Money Out of the Air" (December 2, 1987). ''New York Times''.</ref> and has advanced further liberalization in the use of frequencies.<ref>Hazlett, T.W. (Spring 2001). "The Wireless Craze, the Unlimited Bandwidth Myth, the Spectrum Auction Faux Pas, and the Punchline to Ronald Coase's 'Big Joke': An Essay on Airwave Allocation Policy" ''Harvard Hournal of Law & Technology'' 15: 335–469.</ref> In particular, he recommends that TV Band frequencies should be bid into more valuable uses.<ref>Hazlett, T.W. (Nov. 2001). "The U.S. Digital TV Transition: Time to Toss the Negroponte Switch," AEI-Brookings Working Paper 01-15.</ref> This idea was considered highly controversial in the broadcast industry when proposed, but it has become widely accepted: while Hazlett's views were "so radical that the economist's suggestion was dismissed as Ivory Tower ranting," wrote a [http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/radical-thinker/102928 trade journal] in 2004, "no one is laughing now."<ref>McConnell, B. (April 26, 2004). "Radical Thinker" ''Broadcasting & Cable''.</ref> By 2010, the FCC's National Broadband Plan proposed a major shift of TV frequencies to wireless broadband.<ref>Federal Communications Commission (2010). ''National Broadband Plan'', Chapter 5: Spectrum.</ref> Hazlett's articles in the ''Financial Times'',<ref>Hazlett, T.W. (June 5, 2002). "Abolish Television" ''Financial Times''; Hazlett, T.W. (June 25, 2009). "A Letter to the New FCC Chair, Julius Genachowski" ''Financial TRimes''.</ref> as well as Richard Thaler's ''New York Times'' article on Hazlett's proposal to repurpose spectrum, may have helped popularize the notion.<ref>Thaler, R. (February 27, 2009). "The Buried Treasure in Your TV Dial" ''New York Times''.</ref>

Hazlett has also written extensively about regulation in cable TV markets, promoting the consumer advantages of head-to-head competition and advocating the removal of franchise barriers.<ref>Hazlett, T.W. (July 1986) "Private Monopoly and the Public Interest: An Analysis of the Cable TV Franchise," 134 ''U. of Pennsylvania Law Review'', 1335–1409; Hazlett, T.W. (Winter 2007) "Cable TV Franchises as Barriers to Video Competition," 11 ''Virginia Journal of Law & Technology'', 1–82.</ref> He served as the economic expert (for the plaintiff) in Preferred Communications v. City of Los Angeles, the 1986 case in which the Supreme Court effectively declared monopoly cable TV franchises to be a violation of the First Amendment. He has written about problems in the development of cable competition and his 1995 article, "Predation in Local Cable TV Markets,"<ref>Hazlett, T.W. (Fall 1995). "Predation in Local Cable Television Markets," ''Antitrust Bulletin'' XL 609–44.</ref> is cited as one of the strongest documentations that predatory pricing occurred.<ref>See, for example, Bolton, P., Brodley, J.F., and Riordan, M.H. (1999–2000). "Predatory Pricing: Strategic Theory and Legal Policy," 88 ''Georgetown Law Journal'' 2239–2330.</ref>

Other areas of Hazlett's research involve cable TV price controls,<ref>Hazlett, T.W. (1997), "Prices and Outputs Under Cable TV Reregulation." 12 ''Journal of Regulatory Economics'' 173-195.</ref> the impact of antitrust action against Microsoft,<ref>Bittlingmayer, G. and Hazlett, T.W. (March 2000). "DOS Kapital: Has Antitrust Action Against Microsoft Created Value in the Computer Industry? 55 ''Journal of Financial Economics'' 329–359.</ref> and network neutrality rules. In addition to his book ''The Fallacy of Net Neutrality'', Hazlett's article with FTC Commissioner Joshua D. Wright, "[https://ssrn.com/abstract=1917587 The Law and Economics of Network Neutrality]," provides a comprehensive analysis and critique of the 2010 rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. Hazlett's 2011 Harvard Law School [http://iep.clemson.edu/?p=700 debate ] on the subject, with network neutrality supporter and law professor Tim Wu, states his case.

==Personal== Hazlett is married and has two teen-aged<ref>In 2015</ref> daughters. He was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. In his youth, he attended Los Angeles city schools and worked as a child actor, appearing in TV shows such as ''McHale's Navy'', ''The Monkees'', and ''Land of the Giants'', movies such as Walt Disney's ''Follow Me Boys'', and commercials for Wonder Bread and the Ford Torino. Having studied dance, he auditioned to join the traveling Bolshoi Ballet in Hollywood in 1962, but was rejected and ultimately studied economics instead.

In 1992, his attempt to assist in his mother's fight against cancer, impeded by FDA regulations blocking advanced treatments available in Japan and elsewhere, was described in ''Forbes'' and later chronicled in Philip K. Howard's book, ''The Death of Common Sense''.

==Works== * Hazlett, T.W. and Spitzer, M.L. (1997). ''Public Policy toward Cable Television: The Economics of Rate Controls.'' MIT Press. {{ISBN|978-0262082532}}. {{OCLC|36900920}} * Hazlett, T.W. and Arrison, S. (2003). ''Telecrisis: How Regulation Stifles High-Speed Internet Access.'' San Francisco, Calif: Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. {{ISBN|978-0936488899}}. {{OCLC|52769516}} * Hazlett, T.W. (2011). ''The Fallacy of Net Neutrality.'' New York: Encounter Books. {{ISBN|978-1594035920}}. {{OCLC|724661824}} * Hazlett, T.W. (2017). ''The Political Spectrum: The Tumultuous Liberation of Wireless Technology, from Herbert Hoover to the Smartphone.'' Yale University Press. {{ISBN|978-0300210507}}. {{OCLC|961312417}}

===Other=== * {{cite encyclopedia |author-first=Thomas W.|author-last=Hazlett|title=Apartheid|url=https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Apartheid.html |encyclopedia=The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics |edition=2nd |series=Library of Economics and Liberty |publisher=Liberty Fund |year=2008|isbn=978-0865976665 |editor-first=David R.|editor-last=Henderson |editor-link=David R. Henderson |pages=14–19 }}

==Other== Rush Limbaugh, who was a friend of Hazlett, credited Hazlett with coining the term "feminazi" to, as Limbaugh stated, "describe any female who is intolerant of any point of view that challenges militant feminism."<ref name="TheWayp193">Rush H. Limbaugh, ''The Way Things Ought to Be'', Pocket Books, 1992 [https://books.google.com/books?id=XDVMk6q_pm4C&q=%22Tom+Hazlett%22+%22coined+the+term%22 p. 193]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=1987-12-01|title=H.L. Mencken: The Soul Behind the Sass|url=https://reason.com/1987/12/01/h-l-mencken/|access-date=2021-10-04|website=Reason.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{C-SPAN|1013792}} * {{cite journal |author= Hazzlett, Thomas W. |title= The Road from Serfdom: An Interview with F.A. Hayek Foreseeing the fall |journal = The Reason |date= July 1992 |url=https://reason.com/1992/07/01/the-road-from-serfdom-2/ |accessdate= 25 September 2014}} * {{cite book |chapter= Tape: Hazlett 1 Date: November 12, 1978|title= NOBEL-PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST FRIEDRICH VON HAYEK: Interviewed by Earlene Craver, Axel Leijonhufvud, Leo Rosten, Jack High, James Buchanan, Robert Bork, Thomas Hazlett, Armen A. Alchian, Robert Chitester; Completed under the Auspices of the Oral History Program of University of California, Los Angeles |publisher= The Regents of the University of California |date= 1983 |url= https://archive.org/details/nobelprizewinnin00haye/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater |pages= [https://archive.org/details/nobelprizewinnin00haye/page/n707/mode/2up?view=theater 336]-360 |via= Internet Archive |accessdate= 25 September 2024}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hazlett, Thomas}} Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American economists Category:20th-century American economists Category:Clemson University faculty Category:Economists from South Carolina Category:University of California, Davis faculty Category:Wharton School faculty Category:George Mason University people Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni Category:Economists from California