<nettime> the "new economy" vs bandwidth use and pricing trends

["nettime's_roving_reporter" <nettime@bbs.thing.net>]

     [orig From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com>,
      orig To: Digital Bearer Settlement List <dbs@philodox.com>,
	 dcsb@ai.mit.edu]

--- begin forwarded text


Date:         Thu, 13 Jul 2000 08:35:21 -0400
Reply-To: Law & Policy of Computer Communications
<CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
Sender: Law & Policy of Computer Communications
<CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
From: Douglas Galbi <DGALBI@FCC.GOV>
Subject:      the "new economy" vs bandwidth use and pricing trends
To: CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

Economic historians have enjoyed debating whether the Industrial
Revolution was revolutionary.  How 'bout a little discussion about how new
the new economy is?  For starters, you might consider Robert J. Gordon's
interesting draft, "Does the "New Economy" Measure Up to the Great
Inventions of the Past?" [available at
http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/economics/gordon/351_text.pdf

I would be particularly interested in seeing some discussion of the issued
raised in my recent draft: 

Growth in the "New Economy": U.S. Bandwidth Use and Pricing Across the
1990s

Abstract:

An acceleration in the growth of communications bandwidth in use and a
rapid reduction in bandwidth prices have not accompanied the U.S.
economy's strong performance in the second half of the 1990s.  Overall
U.S. bandwidth in use has grown robustly throughout the 1990s, but growth
has not significantly accelerated in the second half of 1990s.  Average
prices for U.S. bandwidth in use have fallen little in nominal terms in
the second half of the 1990s.  Institutional change, rather than more
competitors of established types, may soon produce long-expected dramatic
changes in bandwidth in use and bandwidth prices, with significant effects
on U.S. growth and productivity. 

Available on the web at
http://www.erols.com/dgalbi/telpol/think.htm

Possible questions for discussion:

1)  Why do bandwidth prices appear to have changed so little?

2)  When are we likely to see dramatic changes in aggregate bandwidth use
and bandwidth pricing?

Regards,
Doug Galbi
FCC Senior Economist

--- end forwarded text


-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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