Polycentric Governance in the US Amateur-Radio Community: Unassigned Spectrum and Promoting Open Innovation

Due to inherent difficulties in fully specifying contracting terms via formal agreements, societal services that are open-ended in nature, such as long-term innovation and training initiatives, may be underprovided in traditional market economies. We provide a case study of the US Amateur Radio (AR) community, documenting the original motivations for designating the AR spectrum band as well as the community’s longer-term contributions to broadening spectrum applications and training future spectrum experts. Our analysis suggests that the open-ended nature of the services provided by AR operators necessitates polycentric governance for efficient resource allocation, and therefore the current unassigned-spectrum model works well as a non-commercial alternative to excludable property rights. More generally, we argue that the AR service is a valuable experimental ground for generating a better understanding of how to design non-market resource allocation mechanisms for open-ended societal services.