Introduction to the special issue 'The New Economy: Implications and Viability'

This special issue of Louvain Economic Review is devoted to the ‘New Economy’.Indeed, a few months after the rapid decline in the stock market for new technologies in most places in the world, it was time to try to draw a balanced synthesis of the economic implications of the so-called New Economy. A few figures are needed to realize why the last decade was indeed an exceptional period, according to historical standards.First of all, the increasing role of information technologies is simply overwhelming.Ov er the last decade, the real value of business investment in the USA has been multiplied by 22 for computers and peripherals, 3 for communication equipment, and 6 for software (...)