THE ROLE OF ECONOMIC TECHNIQUES IN SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT

In recent years the management of the radio spectrum, in terms of deci ding which applications and which users should have access to it, has become increasingly difficult. This is due to the dramatic growth in u sers and applications requiring radio spectrum and the need from the g overnment for increasing openness and fairness in making decisions. A number of spectrum managers have investigated the use of economic tool s to overcome these problems, including an analysis of the economic va lue of the spectrum, pricing the spectrum, allowing trading in spectru m, and using competitions to assign spectrum. This article examines th e roles of these techniques and suggests that there is a strong argume nt for their widespread adoption within most spectrum managers.