ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of the new economy possesses many interrelated aspects that affect the micro, meso and macro levels. The basic idea behind the concept is that “something new” is happening in the fields of technology, internal organization of firms, macroeconomic policy, pattern of public intervention and economic geography (see Amable et al. 2002). A wide-spread thesis assumes that: (i) the new economy defines a new long-term growth trajectory based on a few “generic” technologies-mainly information and communication technologies (ICTs) but also biotechnologies and more generally the “weightless” economy1; (ii) associated with this new trajectory are an array of institutions that are capable of stimulating the technical change and structural changes which are needed to launch the technological trajectory that the new economy has defined; (iii) lastly, as would seem to be indicated on the one hand by the United States’ advance in the new ICT-related fields and on the other hand by its superior macroeconomic performances during the 1990s, one has to adopt American institutional characteristics in order to be successful. The example of the United Kingdom allegedly represents the confirmation of this thesis, as well as the proof that it is possible to overcome Euro-sclerosis. In sum, changes in modern capitalism are supposedly leading the developed countries toward an “Anglo-Saxon” model, replete with deregulated financial markets, “flexible” labor markets, technologically dynamic and newly created firms, greater competition in the product markets, etc. All in all, a situation that is relatively distant from the trajectory followed by the Continental European economies in the aftermath of the Second World War.
