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'Must-Have' Guide to Digital Revolution in Fourth Edition
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Considered by many policymakers, reporters and analysts to be a ‘must-have’ source for objective information on many of the changes occurring in today’s fast-paced economy, The Digital Economy Fact Book is now available in its fourth edition. Sorting out myths from realities and hyperbolic hopes from sober projections, it presents the best available information on Internet growth, the hardware and communications sectors, e-commerce, financing of the digital sector, and the digital economy.
“Just as it has been for the past four years, our goal here is to provide the data and analysis needed to understand what lies behind the headlines,” writes Progress & Freedom Foundation President Jeffrey A. Eisenach in the book he co-wrote with William F. Adkinson, Jr. and Thomas M. Lenard. “What we find is a story that is complex, subtle and full of apparent contradictions.”
Some of the facts that make up the reality, according to the authors, include: rapid growth in revenues and long-run profitability at such companies as Amazon.com, Ebay and Yahoo; rapid growth in both the market served by competitive carriers and the amount of traffic carried on the Internet backbone; growth in the wireless sector to the extent that, in 2002, the number of cell phone subscribers surpassed the number of residential lines; and general agreement among economists that digital technologies “have had a permanent impact on the economy’s ability to grow.”
Just as it sought to avoid the excessive dot.com hype of previous years, The Digital Economy Fact Book seeks to transcend the doom and gloom of today’s prognosticators, choosing instead a fact-based approach.
“Looking forward, the pain of the current economic calamity in the IT sector should not be allowed to obscure the potential for renewed growth in the future,” Eisenach writes. “Even as bankruptcies mount and layoffs continue, the groundwork is being laid for the next generation of progress. What form will it take? Who will be the winners and losers? No one knows – but this book is full of hints.”
The Digital Economy Fact Book can be purchased through the PFF web site at www.pff.org/publications/purchase/. The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.
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