Pai Appoints Mercatus Center's Ellig Chief Economist at FCC
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai appointed Jerry Ellig, an economist at the free-market-oriented Mercatus Center, as chief economist. Pai is hoping to put more emphasis on economic analysis at the FCC and in April proposed the creation of a new Office…
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of Economics and Data (see 1704050047). Ellig has been affiliated with the George Mason University-based center since 1996, though from 2001 to 2003 he was deputy director of the FTC Office of Policy Planning. Ellig recently published “a series of papers that assess the quality and use of regulatory impact analysis in both executive branch and independent agencies,” the FCC said in a Wednesday news release. “These papers identify best practices, shortcomings, and reasons for variation in the quality of agencies’ analysis.” The new chief economist will help the FCC establish the new economics office, the FCC said. Former FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright, now a professor at GMU, tweeted: “Fantastic choice. Well done.” But Dwayne Winseck, communications professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, tweeted the choice represents the "triumph of ideology over reason.”