[references!] Why Not debate "network externality"-path dependence?
It's already been much-debated. It's just hard to find the debate among the quasi-spam of the cult proselytizing: [EH == Economic History] EH.Res: FORUM: Path-dependence http://www.eh.net/lists/eh.res/forum3/ http://www.eh.net/lists/eh.res/forum3/nov/index.html EH.Res: Forum: More on QWERTY http://www.eh.net/lists/eh.res/forum6/index.shtml http://www.eh.net/lists/eh.res/forum6/mar/index.html http://www.eh.net/lists/eh.res/forum6/aug/index.html See particularly an article by one author debunking some L-M "debunking" "I have considerable sympathy with the criticism by L&M that some of the arguments for path dependency have been based "on poorly documented evidence that dissolves upon closer inspection." But their account in JLEO of this particular history is subject to the same critique." http://www.eh.net/lists/eh.res/forum3/nov/0049.html [Richard S. Rosenbloom, Harvard Business School, for credentials] Also: "Path dependence and the quest for historical economics: one more chorus of the ballad of QWERTY by Paul A. David" http://www.eh.net/Publications/pathdepend.shtml "At last, a remedy for chronic QWERTY-skepticism! by Paul A. David" http://www.eh.net/Publications/remedy.shtml __ Seth Finkelstein Consulting Programmer sethf@sethf.com http://sethf.com Latest essay: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) http://www.spectacle.org/0201/sethf.html
-- At 0944 PM 3/4/2001 -0500, Seth Finkelstein wrote
It's already been much-debated. It's just hard to find the debate among the quasi-spam of the cult proselytizing
I sampled one of your lengthy list of citations at random, (http//www.eh.net/Publications/pathdepend.shtml) and it read as if written by an English lit critic trained in postmodernism, rather than someone with actual economic qualifications. This did not encourage me to read any of the others. Nonetheless I doggedly persisted, and read another, taken at random.
"At last, a remedy for chronic QWERTY-skepticism! by Paul A. David" http//www.eh.net/Publications/remedy.shtml
And encountered a complete absence of any actual facts or argument, a spew of words with the form, but not the substance, of an argument, an emission of meaningless fog reminiscent of Chomsky caught in a lie. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG j1rqvawRra0Q8bVfBLpenoqAnD5gRq2hPJ26gm9u 4sEkuJlfQ1yTzU+x9O3JC1KoaIHSu+ri3Gn9vBFVF
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Seth Finkelstein