Internet Cents and Nonsense: Lessons from the Dot‐​Com Collapse and the Copyright Wars

“The new economy changes everything.” All of us heard it; many believed it. The Internet did lower the cost of communication and offered new ways of doing business. But, contrary to many claims, the Internet didn’t change fundamental truths about economics, such as scarcity, supply and demand, or the relative unimportance of being first to market. Join economist Stan Liebowitz for a new interpretation of the real meaning of the Internet economy: its implications for understanding the dot‐​com crash; the truth about the so‐​called “first‐​mover advantage”; options for protecting digital works such as music and movies when reproduction is free; and, on the antitrust front, whether we need to fret over “network externalities” and lock‐​in of substandard technologies.