Economics of the Internet

9320481因特网是一个世界性的网络的网络。截至1993年5月，它连接了1万多个不同的网络，包括150多万台独立的计算机。NSFNET骨干网到互联网的流量（最大但不是唯一的骨干网）在过去五年中以每月11%的速度增长；这意味着它每7个月就会翻一番。互联网被认为是国家研究和教育网络（NREN）的典范，NREN是1992年国会通过的50亿美元HPCC计划的重点。关于互联网主干的商业化和私有化、对传输提供商和信息服务提供商的监管、对电子形式的知识产权的保护以及对信息基础设施的公众访问，已经作出了重要的政策决定。这些决策几乎没有经济学家的参与。该项目将阐明广域数据网络的经济背景：成本、定价、投资和增长。它考察了竞争和行业结构，并解决了随着数据、电话和视频技术和市场开始合并而随之而来的重要监管问题。此外，它还开发了在此类网络中有效分配资源的机制。

9320481 The Internet is a worldwide network of networks. As of May 1993 it connects over 10,000 different networks, comprising over 1.5 million separate computers. Traffic on the NSFNET backbone to the Internet (the largest but not the only backbone) has been growing at about 11% per month over the last five years; this means it has been doubling every seven months. The Internet is considered to be the model for the National Research and Education Network (NREN) that is the focus of the $5 billion HPCC program adopted by Congress in 1992. Important policy decisions are already being made about the commercialization and privatization of the Internet backbones, regulation of transmission providers and information service providers, the protection of intellectual property in electronic form, and public access to information infrastructure. These decisions are being made with little input from economists. This project will clarify the economic context for wide-area data networks: costs, pricing, investment, and growth. It examines competition and industry structure, and address the important regulatory questions that follow as data, telephone and video technologies and markets begin to merge. Furthermore it develops mechanisms for efficient resource allocation in such networks.