Markets, Standards, and the Information Infrastructure

The author presents a synthesis of thinking within the economics field about network development and standardization. The analysis focuses on understanding economic factors shaping important contemporary events and the development of standards in tomorrow's information infrastructure. The motivation for such a synthesis is that many observations about market mechanisms are not consistent with one another, nor do they all transparently synthesize into a single policy vision. The key to understanding this confusion is that standards take on a dual role, as a coordinator and as a constraint. These insights should be useful for the development of appropriate public policy and management strategy.