"In the few years since its public launching, the Internet has proved to be a cheap, convenient, quick, and flexible means of communication for millions of people engaged in all kinds of activites. In the late 1990s the media predicted that information technology (IT) and the Internet would create a new economy in which incomes would grow, stock values would soar, and recessions would be mild and infrequent.

Confidence in the future of electronic commerce produced an explosion of new companies - dot.coms - that attracted optimistic investors and turned young entrepreneurs into instant millionaires, at least on paper. Skeptics urged caution, but confidence in the future of the Internet ran high, and the stocks of dot.com companies soared - for a time.".

"Then the bubble burst. Investors lost confidence in Internet companies with vague prospects but no profits. Dot.com stocks plummeted, and many went bankrupt. Skeptics crowed, and some voices predicted prolonged distress in the world economy caused by the Internet bust in the United States.".

"In these pages, two leading economists look beyond the dot.coms to examine the Internet's true impact on the economy. By focusing on its potential effect on productivity growth across a wide range of existing "old economy" sectors, Robert Litan and Alice Rivlin predict that the impact of the Internet revolution is likely to be positive, significant, and sustained."--BOOK JACKET.