THE PROMISE AND PERILS OF THE NEW ECONOMY

Today’s dazzling information technologies are often described as tsunamis or tectonic shifts, forces of nature driving us inevitably toward a glittering "new economy." Our contributors question the easy optimism. They point to many difficult political and business choices ahead—about the division of public- and private-sector responsibilities, about security and privacy, about international cooperation, standards, and regulation. And they wonder whether the "new economy" is even all that new.

14 J. Bradford De Long on the new economy 27 Edward Tenner on the significance of the Year 2000 problem 38 Leslie D. Simon on the policies creating cyberspace 48 Pamela Samuelson on the struggle over intellectual property