John Groenewegen

Infrastructures are complex networks dominated by tight interdependencies between technologies and institutions. These networks supply services crucial to modern societies, services that can be provided only if several critical functions are fulfilled. This book proposes a theoretical framework with a set of concepts to analyse rigorously how these critical functions require coordination within the technological dimension as well as within the institutional dimension. It also shows how fundamental the alignment between these two dimensions is. It argues that this alignment operates along different layers characterized successively by the structure, governance and transactions that connect technologies and institutions. These issues of coordination and alignment, at the core of the book, are substantiated through in-depth case studies of networks from the energy, water and wastewater, and transportation sectors.

Wi-Fi has become the preferred means for connecting to the internet - at home, in the office, in hotels and at airports. Increasingly, Wi-Fi also provides internet access for remote communities where it is deployed by volunteers in community-based networks, by operators in 'hotspots' and by municipalities in 'hotzones'. This book traces the global success of Wi-Fi to the landmark change in radio spectrum policy by the US FCC in 1985, the initiative by NCR Corporation to start development of Wireless-LANs and the drive for an open standard IEEE 802.11, released in 1997. It also singles out and explains the significance of the initiative by Steve Jobs at Apple to include Wireless-LAN in the iBook, which moved the product from the early adopters to the mass market. The book explains these developments through first-hand accounts by industry practitioners and concludes with reflections and implications for government policy and firm strategy.

Industrial Policies after 2000 investigates industrial policy during a time of deregulation, privatization and a growing interest in small government. This book brings together scholarship from different countries, different institutional contexts, and different theoretical perspectives. That includes the neoclassical `market' approach, game theoretical models, and institutional economics.

Wi-Fi has become the preferred means for connecting to the internet - at home, in the office, in hotels and at airports. Increasingly, Wi-Fi also provides internet access for remote communities where it is deployed by volunteers in community-based networks, by operators in 'hotspots' and by municipalities in 'hotzones'. This book traces the global success of Wi-Fi to the landmark change in radio spectrum policy by the US FCC in 1985, the initiative by NCR Corporation to start development of Wireless-LANs and the drive for an open standard IEEE 802.11, released in 1997. It also singles out and explains the significance of the initiative by Steve Jobs at Apple to include Wireless-LAN in the iBook, which moved the product from the early adopters to the mass market. The book explains these developments through first-hand accounts by industry practitioners and concludes with reflections and implications for government policy and firm strategy.

This wide-ranging and highly accessible introduction presents both the key theories of Original Institutional Economics and New Institutional Economics in a balanced and intuitive way, reserving technical discussions mainly for appendices. The authors have assumed only minimal, principles-level, knowledge of economics on the part of the reader, making the text ideally suited for use as core reading in undergraduate courses as well as in graduate courses where the backgrounds of students are diverse.

This wide-ranging and highly accessible introduction presents both the key theories of Original Institutional Economics and New Institutional Economics in a balanced and intuitive way, reserving technical discussions mainly for appendices. The authors have assumed only minimal, principles-level, knowledge of economics on the part of the reader, making the text ideally suited for use as core reading in undergraduate courses as well as in graduate courses where the backgrounds of students are diverse.

Industrial Policies after 2000 investigates industrial policy during a time of deregulation, privatization and a growing interest in small government. This book brings together scholarship from different countries, different institutional contexts, and different theoretical perspectives. That includes the neoclassical `market' approach, game theoretical models, and institutional economics.