Indeed, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan believes productivity growth may be picking up in the ninth year of the economic expansion. And the Internet revolution is only in its infancy. It takes time for a major technological innovation to work its way through the economy. The canals took 40 years to build, the railroads 50, and the commercial exploitation of electricity approximately 40. But that is bound to change.
Many economists still downplay the Internet as a transforming technology.
They believe its impact will pale next to that of railroads, electricity, the internal-combustion engine, and other major innovations. I say it's far too early to dismiss or even accurately assess the Internet's impact. The Internet economy is expanding far more rapidly than even starry-eyed optimists imagined a mere five years ago, and the pace of change is speeding up. Dismissing the Internet is shortsighted. Increased computing power speeds up the growth of knowledge and the Internet speeds up its dissemination.