Creating the New Economy: The Entrepreneur and the US Resurgence

What makes the US different from other advanced economies is the opportunity for newcomers acting as entrepreneurs to start new companies, a few of which will then change the world. This book develops three points. First, the New Economy is real: part micro, part macro, and all digital. Second, its emergence around networked PCs propelled the US resurgence in the world economy during the 1990s. Third, rather than subsiding, the current US lead in information technology (IT) could well increase over the next decade. The reason lies in the clustered linking of venture capital and entrepreneurs in a system that can be stylized as 'the invention of the method of innovation'. The central theme of the book is the vital role played by newcomers, acting as entrepreneurs, to overthrow the old order and blast through the deep tendencies toward stagnation that afflict advanced, affluent economies. Related strands are (1) an update and reappraisal of Joseph Schumpeter's vision of capitalist development, (2) a regional focus on the rebirth of US computing, and (3) a detailed inquiry into the geography of innovation in strategic clusters of venture capital firms and IT knowledge workers. The author provides a sharply etched portrayal of the geography of the new economy. He lists specific case studies of the failure of established managerial corporations to capitalize on inventions, a failure remedied by newcomers. The book recounts traditional and new theories of the entrepreneur and of creative destruction. Primers on venture capital, IPOs, and internet business models are included, as are comparisons of theory and data on the emergence of new 'strategic cities'. Lastly, it offers a brief, readable, detailed, and company-specific history of the PC revolution and the coming of the internet. Economists, geographers, and regional scientists, students and readers interested in the digital economy, the internet, the history of economic thought, and the New Economy and investors will all find this book revealing and enlightening.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface: Geographies of Creation Part I: Three Conceptions of the New Economy Part II: Requiem Part III: The Revolution Part IV: Networks Part V: What Went Right? Bibliography Index

About the Author :
R.D. Norton

Review :
'The book is intended for economists, geographers, students and regional scientists as well as for policymakers and scholars, both those who are seeking further information regarding the new economy and those who feel they should know more about the principles of the new economy will learn much from this book. It covers an impressive range of issues, and each topic is dealt with a comprehensive systematic manner. The book is written in an accessible style - generally non-technical except for appendices and largely jargon free.' 'Overall, the comprehensiveness and the massive amount of data on new economy phenomena make Creating the New Economy a nice collection of new economy topics that are of major interest to regional scientists.' 'I have read the Norton manuscript with fascination. He has a provocative thesis, and he successfully puts himself in the middle of virtually every current debate about our economy. It is the kind of book that everyone interested in these controversies will want to read and ponder. At first, few may agree with him but then again he agrees with very few whose ideas he touches. He has made Schumpeter his lodestar. . . Yet, I would venture a guess that Schumpeter himself would not only have been amused, even gratified, but he would have hailed Norton's work as a significant extension of what he had in mind and as a fine example of the bold style he admired.' 'This book is a vigorous statement extolling the continuing leadership prospects for the US economy. A primary contribution is in pointing out that sustained growth in the free market economy is not just the result of fortunate but largely accidental developments. Rather, it is attributable to a considerable degree to the powerful and enduring mechanism of entrepreneurship.' 'While there is a lot of talk about the New Economy, scholars have been slow to take the subject seriously. This volume is an important exception. Norton tackles the subject of the New Economy head on, providing a deep and thoughtful explanation of what this New Economy is all about, where it came from, how it differs from the 'old economy' and where it is headed. Policymakers and scholars from all fields of economics and business will find this book important and valuable in placing the New Economy in an intellectually satisfying historical context.'