The Economics of Internetization

Abstract

Internetization is a new word and concept that has gained currency with the advent of the new global economy of the 21st century. Prior to the ascendance of internetization, economists had embraced the term globalization to describe the operational parameters of the new economy. The problem with the word globalization is that it is neither a new concept nor is it an appropriate descriptive for the contemporary transformational change precipitated by the spectacular technological inventions on the international economic landscape. The new word, internetization, describes more succinctly the transformative powers of the world wide web and the electronic information highway on the evolving dynamics of interconnectivity for the new global economy of the 21st century. Indeed, internetization captures the pervasive influence of technological change and electronic innovations on the global economy and all aspects of human endeavor for our civil society in the 21st century.