Why is American internet access so much more expensive than the rest of the world?

When NYU economist Thomas Philippon moved to the United States from France in the 1990s, he noticed everything from laptops to internet access was cheaper in America. But over time, as the access industry consolidated, prices slowly rose and now Americans pay more for data than almost every other country worldwide.

In his new book, The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets, Philippon sets out to examine why that happened, and why there’s so little competition in American markets. I don’t often directly recommend books on the show or the site, but I think everyone in tech or interested in tech ought to read this book — it provides a rigorous, but easy-to-grasp look at the economics of consolidation and what it does to...

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