ABSTRACT
There are many definitions of the New Economy on offer. Most are polemical and carry underlying and unexpressed normative presumptions. Few offer even an accurate description of current events, let alone useful analysis for predicting the future. Narrow, media-friendly descriptions place the Internet and the dot.com phenomenon at stage centre. Broader views describe the New Economy as no less than a complete socio-economic revolution. There are equally diverse views on the balance of costs and benefits of the New Economy. The Indian grass-roots intellectual, John Samuels, argues that the ‘delusions of development, wealth and participation [features of the New Economy] they create will not effectively change the ground realities of inequality, mistrust, social paranoia and moral degeneration’.4 Tom Cavenagh of the Conference Board sums up
the views of New Economy enthusiasts in arguing that ‘barriers will fall, productivity will soar. . . and this new frictionless economy will produce an unparalleled rise in living standards and human potential for all of society’s members’.5
