Compatibility, Standardization, and Network Effects: Some Policy Implications

Given the dramatic growth of the Internet and information-technology industries in general, and the importance of interconnection in these networks, the economics of compatibility and standardization has become mainstream economics. In this paper, I examine several key policy aspects of standard setting in industries with network effects. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.

[1]  Steven Postrel,et al.  Competing Networks and Proprietary Standards: The Case of Quadraphonic Sound , 1990 .

[2]  Pierre Regibeau,et al.  The timing of product introduction and the credibility of compatibility decisions , 1996 .

[3]  Neil Gandal,et al.  NETWORK EFFECTS, SOFTWARE PROVISION, AND STANDARDIZATION* , 1992 .

[4]  Pierre Regibeau,et al.  A selective review of the economics of standardization. Entry deterrence, technological progress and international competition , 1996 .

[5]  P. David,et al.  The Economics Of Compatibility Standards: An Introduction To Recent Research 1 , 1990 .

[6]  Neil Gandal,et al.  The Dynamics of Technological Adoption in Hardware/Software Systems , 1997 .

[7]  Mark A. Lemley,et al.  Legal Implications of Network Economic Effects , 1998 .

[8]  Jacques Crémer,et al.  Connectivity in the Commercial Internet , 2003 .

[9]  P. David Clio and the Economics of QWERTY , 1985 .

[10]  Jay Pil Choi,et al.  Network Externality, Compatibility Choice, and Planned Obsolescence , 1994 .

[11]  Neil Gandal,et al.  Adoptions and Orphans in the Early Microcomputer Market , 2003 .

[12]  Eirik Gaard Kristiansen,et al.  R&D in the Presence of Network Externalities: Timing and Compatibility , 1998 .

[13]  Gerald R. Faulhaber Network effects and merger analysis: instant messaging and the AOL–Time Warner case , 2002 .

[14]  Timothy F. Bresnahan,et al.  New Modes of Competition , 1999 .

[15]  Paul A. David,et al.  Formal standards-setting for global telecommunications and information services. Towards an institutional regime transformation? , 1996 .

[16]  C. Barrett,et al.  Rational Incompatibility With International Product Standards , 2001 .

[17]  Timothy F. Bresnahan,et al.  New Modes of Competition: Implications for the Future Structure of the Computer Industry , 1998 .

[18]  Roger Ware,et al.  Network Industries, Intellectual Property Rights, and Competition Policy , 1998 .

[19]  Peter S. Menell,et al.  An Epitaph for Traditional Copyright Protection of Network Features of Computer Software , 1998 .

[20]  Nicholas Economides,et al.  Desirability of Compatibility in the Absence of Network Externalities , 1989 .

[21]  Kari Kemppainen Competition and Regulation in European Retail Payment Systems , 2003 .

[22]  Stephen E. Margolis,et al.  Network externality : an uncommon tragedy , 1994 .

[23]  Luís M. B. Cabral Introduction to industrial organization , 2000 .

[24]  W. B. Arthur,et al.  On Competing Technologies and Historical Small Events: The Dynamics of Choice under Increasing Returns , 1983 .

[25]  R. Gilbert Symposium on Compatibility: Incentives and Market Structure , 1992 .

[26]  Mark A. Lemley Antitrust, intellectual property and standard setting organizations , 2001, Proceedings from the 2nd IEEE Conference on Standardization and Innovation in Information Technology (Cat. No.01EX530).

[27]  Shane Greenstein,et al.  Did Installed Base Given an Incumbent Any (Measurable) Advantages in Federal Computer Procurement , 1993 .

[28]  C. Shapiro,et al.  Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility , 1985 .

[29]  C. Shapiro,et al.  Product Introduction with Network Externalities , 1992 .

[30]  Oz Shy,et al.  Network effects without network externalities , 1990 .

[31]  Drew Fudenberg,et al.  Upgrades, Tradeins, and Buybacks , 1998 .

[32]  Garth Saloner,et al.  Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with Funding from Adoption of Technologies Uith Network Effects: an Empirical Examination of the Adoption of Automated Teller Machines , 2022 .

[33]  Neil Gandal Hedonic Price Indexes for Spreadsheets and an Empirical Test for Network Externalities , 1994 .

[34]  Marc Rysman,et al.  Competition between Networks: A Study of the Market for Yellow Pages , 2002 .

[35]  Neil Gandal,et al.  Standardization Policy and International Trade , 2001 .

[36]  Robert P. Merges,et al.  Institutions for Intellectual Property Transactions: The Case of Patent Pools , 1999 .

[37]  Joseph Farrell,et al.  Standardization, Compatibility, and Innovation , 1985 .

[38]  C. Shapiro,et al.  Standard Setting in High-Definition Television , 1992 .