Consumer prices and the Federal Trade Commission's "do-not-call" program

The Federal Trade Commission's "do-not-call" program successfully cut the number of telemarketing calls for households that registered. Time savings and fewer interruptions are real benefits. However, telemarketing was one of the most successful marketing tools that firms used to offer lower-priced consumer telecommunications services directly, and do-not-call regulations largely eliminated this advertising method, The authors estimate that the average U.S. household will have between $19 to $39 in increased long-distance costs annually as a result of forgone lower prices because of do-not-call regulations. The Federal Trade Commission's do-not-call policy is not a free lunch. The hidden cost of higher telephone service prices that will continue into the future is a less obvious but real cost of this policy.