Economists have defined 'network externality' and have examined putative inframarginal market failures associated with it. This paper distinguishes between network effects and network externalities, where the latter are market failures. The authors argue that while network effects are important,...

Since their first emergence in the work of Paul David thirty years ago, the dual issues of Path Dependence and Lock-In have become critically important subjects in the fields of economics, sociology, and business strategy. Theoretical and public policy debates on these issues have arisen,...

Since their first emergence in the work of Paul David thirty years ago, the dual issues of Path Dependence and Lock-In have become critically important subjects in the fields of economics, sociology, and business strategy. Theoretical and public policy debates on these issues have arisen,...

Recent years have seen the development of new theories of market failure based on asymmetric information and network effects. According to the new paradigm, we can expect substantial failure in the markets for labor, credit, insurance, software, new technologies and even used cars, to give but a...

Benjamin Klein and Keith B. Leffler (1981), 'The Role of Market Forces in Assuring Contractual Performance', Journal of Political Economy, 89 (4), August, 615-41 -- I.P.L. Png and David Reitman (1995), 'Why Are Some Products Branded and Others Not?', Journal of Law and Economics, XXXVIII (1),...