Introduction

Many local governments plan to deploy wireless broadband Internet for their needs. But some scholars worry about the unintended impacts of municipal wireless initiatives, such as wasting taxes and security and privacy problems. Irrespective of that, why they are doing that? Is it really for citizens? We may answer this question considering many factors from many perspectives.

Background

There are many perspectives about municipal wireless. Some scholars analyze it from the perspective of economics. Some people are looking at from the perspectives of agency theory and politics.

Learning Objective

Our learning objective is to understand how multi-layered framework can be used to assess the municipal wireless initiatives.
- Economics (Rational) perspectives
- Agency theory perspectives
- Politics perspectives

Analysis

Economists generally see this issue from the benefits and cost. Their main questions are how much muni wireless can provide benefits to citizens and how much it costs to do that. The main difficulty in this approach is that it is very difficult to measure real benefits and costs.

People from agency theory see this issue from the perspective of the role of government officials. Government officials as public servants should do their jobs for the welfare of their citizens.

Evaluation and Extension

Related Readings

Markus, L., “Power, politics, and MIS implementation,” Communications of ACM (1883) [26:6], pp.430-444.