In addition, fiber optic cables or the hardware in server farms can become obsolete, or at least less valuable if new technology arises. Then too, there is, I thought, a surplus of fiber optic cables, reflecting the old economy phenomenon of excess capacity.
Doug Henwood wrote:
> This paragraph appears in a story by Anya Schiffrin in The Industry Standard:
>
> >"Our new-economy capital stock is more flexible and so much less
> >vulnerable to the over-investment trap," says [Brad] DeLong. "A
> >chemical factory can only be used to make chemicals. But a server
> >farm and its fiber-optic cables can be used to organize and control
> >any component of the economy." If so, the economy this year will
> >finally show just how new it really is.
>
> Really? Can a server farm be redeployed so easily? And if the problem
> is just too much capacity, what good is redeployment?
>
> Doug
--
Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu