Internet, Economic Growth and Globalization : Perspectives on the New Economy in Europe, Japan and the USA

A. Telecommunications, Internet, Innovation and Growth in Europe.- 1. Telecommunications, Internet and Transatlantic Growth Differentials.- 1.1 Telecommunications and the Internet.- 1.2 Telecommunications and Technological Dynamics.- 1.3 Taking Stock: Transatlantic Growth Differential.- 2. Theoretical Analysis.- 2.1 ICT Dynamics and Growth.- 2.2 Perspectives on Inflation and Growth.- 3. Innovation, ICT Dynamics and Growth: Theoretical and Empirical Aspects.- 3.1 Basic Theoretical Issues.- 3.2 Empirical Links Between Innovations and Output.- 3.3 ICT as a General Purpose Technology?.- 4. The Role of Telecommunications and the Internet for Trade and Growth.- 4.1 Telecommunications, Innovation and Economic Growth in Germany 1960–1990.- 4.2 Growth and Employment Effects of an Internet Flat Rate in Germany.- 4.3 Telecommunications and Foreign Trade.- 5. Some Long-Term Aspects.- Appendix: Methodological Issues in Growth Statistics.- B. Is the IT Revolution Possible in Japan?.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Present State of IT Utilization in Japan.- 3. The Government IT Policy.- 4. Social Factors Prevent the IT Revolution.- 5. The Traditional Companies Still Dominate the Economy.- 6. The Reform of the 1940 System.- Annex: Tables.- C. The Internet and Evolving Patterns of International Trade.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Brief Review of a Theoretical Framework for Empirical Tests.- 3. Specification of the Gravity Equation of Trade.- 4. Data.- 5. Discussion of the Results.- 6. Sensitivity Analysis and Alternative Explanations.- 7. Conclusions.- D. Internet Dynamics, Trade and Globalization (Some Comments on the paper by Caroline L. Freund and Diana Weinhold).- 1. General Comments.- 2. Comments on “Internet Increased Trade”.- 3. Comments on “Internet Distance Trade”.- E. Internet and Culture.- 1. The Convergence Thesis.- 2. Meta-Analysis of Consumption and Consumer Behaviour.- 3. Hofstede’s Dimensions of National Culture.- 4. With Increased Wealth Cultural Values Become Manifest.- 5. Culture and Consumption.- 6. Convergence-Divergence: A Pattern.- 7. Communication Technology: Increasing Influence of Culture.- 8. The Communication Means of the New Economy.- 9. The Internet in Europe.- 10. Business Application.- 11. Conclusions.- F. E-Commerce: A Paradise for Bargain Hunters?.- G. E-Finance: Causing Major Upheavals in the Spatial Organization of the Financial Sector?.- 1. E-Finance: Technological Revolution, Paradigm Shift or Hype?.- 2. The Role of International Financial Centers.- 3. New Technological Developments and the Role of E-Finance.- 3.1 Online Banking.- 3.2 Investment Houses: Traditional, Online or Hybrid.- 3.3 Alternative Trading Systems and the Competition Between Floor Trading and Electronic Trading.- 3.4 Cooperation and Alliances of Stock Exchanges.- 3.5 Implications for International Financial Centers: Expectations and Perceptions.- 4. Financial Centers as Information and Interaction Centers.- 4.1 Delineating the Argument.- 4.2 Open Questions.- 5. Further Reasons for Agglomeration: Labor Markets and Institutions.- 5.1 Labor Markets.- 5.2 Institutions.- 6. Information Strategies and the Special Characteristics of Centers.- 7. Conclusion.- Appendix: Tables.- H. E-Finance: Causing Major Upheavals in the Spatial Organization of the Financial Sector? (Some Comments on Paper by Nicole Pohl).- 1. Introduction.- 2. What Does Theory Tell Us?.- 3. What Do Empirical Observations Tell Us?.- 4. How Does the Internet Affect Spatial Financial Activities?.- I. How Will the Internet Change the Japanese Financial Perspective?.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Current State of the Development of Electronic Financial Services in Japan.- 2.1 Securities Businesses on the Internet.- 2.2 E-Banking.- 2.3 Challenges to the Development of Electronic Financial Transactions.- 2.3.1 Internet Access.- 2.3.2 System Security.- 2.3.3 Growth Potential for Online Brokers.- 3. Impacts of Electronic Financial Transactions on Market Structure.- 3.1 Direct Effects: Transaction Costs.- 3.2 Possibility of Changing Market Structure: Cooperation and Competition.- 4. Policy Implications and Concluding Remarks.- 4.1 Policy Challenges.- 4.2 Implications for the Banking Business.- J. How Will the Internet Change the Japanese Financial Perspective? (Some Comments on Paper by Marko Fujii).- K. Internet Dynamics and Expansion of European Financial Markets: Issues from a Behavioral Finance Perspective.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Recent Trends in the Internet and the Internet Economy.- 3. The Expansion of the European Financial Markets.- 3.1 European Financial Markets as a Source of Risk Capital for SMEs.- 3.2 Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Debt Markets.- 4. An Assessment of the Recent Developments.- 4.1 Shortcomings in the Valuation of Internet-Related Firms.- 4.2 The Behavioral Finance Approach (BFA).- 4.3 A Behavioral Finance Interpretation for the Internet Bubble.- 5. Conclusions.- L. Competition in Telecommunications and Internet Services: A Dynamic Perspective.- 1. The Internet as the Prime Driver of Convergence of the Telecommunications, Media and Information Technology (IT) Sectors.- 2. Internet Periphery Versus Internet Service Provision.- 3. Access to the Internet.- 4. Internet Backbones.- 4.1 Long Distance Network Capacity (Communications Bandwidth).- 4.2 Internet Backbone Services.- 4.3 Organization of Interconnectivity: Transit and Peering.- M. Persistence of Monopolistic Bottlenecks in Telecommunications and Internet Services (Some Comments on a Paper by Günter Knieps).- 1. Summary of Key Conclusions of Knieps.- 2. Availability of Competing (Internet) Access Technologies.- 3. Competitive Intensity on the German (Internet) Backbone Bandwidth Market.- N. Regulatory Economics and the Internet.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Market Trends and the Importance of the Internet.- 2.1 Importance of the Internet.- 2.2 Development of Internet Usage/Development of Broadband Internet.- 2.3 Internet Service Provider Trends.- 2.4 Convergence.- 3. RegTP Determinations.- 3.1 Wholesale Metered Access for ISPs.- 3.2 Wholesale Unmetered Internet Access.- 3.3 DSL.- 3.4 Line Sharing.- 3.5 Internet Telephony.- 4. Impact of the Internet on the PSTN/ISDN.- 5. Questions Arising from Regulatory Practice and Emerging Trends.- 5.1 Should RegTP Regulate the Internet?.- 5.2 Is Regulation of the Wholesale Service Enough?.- 5.3 Regulatory Implications.- 6. Conclusion.- O. The Regulation, Deregulation, and Nonregulation of Telecommunications and the Internet in the United States.- 1. Background and Overview.- 1.1 Antitrust versus Regulation: A Two-Pronged Approach to Regulating Firms.- 1.2 Reconsidering Industry-Specific Regulation.- 2. Regulation and Deregulation of Telecommunications.- 2.1 The Communications Act of 1934.- 2.2 The Introduction of Competition into the Long-Distance Market.- 2.2.1 Opening the Long-Distance Market to Competition.- 2.2.2 Regulatory Responses to the Introduction of Competition.- 2.3 The Introduction of Competition into Local Telephone Markets.- 2.3.1 The Local Competition Provisions.- 2.3.2 Deregulation.- 3. The Non-Regulation of Enhanced Services and the Internet.- 3.1 The Non-Regulation of Enhanced Services.- 3.2 The Non-Regulation of the Internet.- 4. Summary and Conclusions.- P. Deregulation of Telecommunications and Non-Regulation of the Internet in Japan.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Actors on the Internet Market.- 3. Deregulation of Telecommunications in Japan.- 3.1 Concrete Actors.- 3.2 Stages of the Telecommunications Deregulation.- 3.3 Further Discussions and Reforms.- 4. Non-regulation of Internet Content in Japan.- 4.1 Concrete Actors.- 4.2 Process of Discussions.- 4.3 Pending Issues.- 5. Perspectives.- Q. Electronic Commerce and the Gats Negotiations.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Classification.- 3. Taxation.- 4. Scope: Modes of Supply.- 5. E-Commerce: The Impact of Regulation.- 5. Intellectual Property Issues.- 6. Privacy & Security.- R. Electronic Commerce and the GATS Negotiations (Some Comments on a Paper by Claude E. Barfield).- 1. Introduction.- 2. Issues in E-Commerce and Trade.- 3. Towards an Informed Debate on E-Commerce.- S. The Internet and Society.- 1. Technological Determinism and Conflicting Visions of the Internet.- 2. Limitations of the “Social Impacts of ICTs” Approach.- 2.1 An Over-simplified View of the Processes Determining Societal Outcomes.- 2.2 Narrowness of the “Information Age” Thesis.- 2.3 Bias Towards Long-term Analyses of Staged Development.- 2.4 Failure to Acknowledge that Technology is Intrinsically Social.- 3. The Internet and Society: The Crucial Role of Tele-Access.- 3.1 “Communicative Power” and the Politics of Information.- 3.2 Key Dimensions of Tele-Access.- 3.3 Social Factors Shaping Choices and their Implications for Access.- 4. Encompassing Studies of Influence, Control and Management.- 4.1 Influence and the Mass Media.- 4.2 Technology, Expertise, and Social Control.- 4.3 Management Strategies Related to ICT Use.- 5. The Interaction of Strategies within a Broader Ecology of Games.- T. The Internet and Society (Some Comments on Paper by William H. Dutton).- U. Knowledge, Work Organisation and Economic Growth.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Changing Nature of Work.- 2.1 The Diffusion of New Work Practices and New Forms of Work.- 2.1.1 How Prevalent are New Work Practices Among Firms?.- 2.1.2 Telework: An Emerging Form of Work.- 2.2 A Higher Demand for Knowledge-Intensive Employment.- 2.2.1 Emerging Labour and Skill Shortages.- 2.2.2 A Shift Towards Knowledge-Intensive Employment.- 2.3 Employee Tenure: Overall Stability Which Masks Important Underlying Changes.- 3. New Work Practices, Skills and Economic Growth.- 3.1 New Work Practices and Growth.- 3.1.1 Findings form the Existing Literature.- 3.1.2 Empirical Evidence.- 3.2 Links Between Skills and Economic Growth.- 4. Policy Issues.- 4.1 Mobilising Labour Supply.- 4.2 Equipping Workers with the Appropriate Skills.- 4.2.1 Education in New Technology.- 4.2.2 Vocational and on the-Job Training.- 4.2.3 Looking at Migration in a New Light.- 4.3 Enhancing Employment Adjustment: the Role of Collective Bargaining and Government Regulation.- 5. Concluding Remarks.- Annex I: Survey on New Work Practices Used in the Study.- Annex II: Tables.- V. The Quest for Global Leadership in the Internet Age: A European Perspective (Luncheon Speech).- List of Figures.- List of Tables.- List of Contributors.