How the Internet Became Commercial: Innovation, Privatization, and the Birth of a New Network (The Kauffman Foundation Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship)

by Shane Greenstein

There was nothing inevitable about innovation from the edges. Some economic behavior encouraged it, but not all did. One important aspect of the historical experience was the way events reinforced one another at a market-wide level. For example, lack of concentrated decision making and dispersed technical leadership fostered a variety of inventions, contributed to greater competitive conduct from more suppliers, and nurtured a great variety of economic experiments.