Nurturing the Accumulation of Innovations: Lessons from the Internet / Shane Greenstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Greenstein, Shane.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w15905.

NBER working paper series no. w15905

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Nurturing the Accumulation of Innovations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2010.

Summary:

The innovations that became the foundation for the Internet originate from two eras that illustrate two distinct models for accumulating innovations over the long haul. The pre-commercial era illustrates the operation of several useful non-market institutional arrangements. It also illustrates a potential drawback to government sponsorship - in this instance, truncation of exploratory activity. The commercial era illustrates a rather different set of lessons. It highlights the extraordinary power of market-oriented and widely distributed investment and adoption, which illustrates the power of market experimentation to foster innovative activity. It also illustrates a few of the conditions necessary to unleash value creation from such accumulated lessons, such as standards development and competition, and nurturing legal and regulatory policies.

Notes:

Print version record

April 2010.