The largest constituency on the Internet is apparently e-mail users; a proposal to charge high prices for e-mail is likely to be politically infeasible. However, e-mail can usually tolerate moderate delays. Under congestion pricing of the sort we are describing, e-mail users could put a low or zero-bid price on their traffic, and would continue to face a very low cost.
Predictor: MacKie-Mason, Jeffrey K.
Prediction, in context:The 1995 book “Public Access to the Internet,” edited by Brian Kahin and James Keller carries the chapter, “Pricing the Internet” by Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason and Hal R. Varian. MacKie is an associate professor of economics and Varian is a professor of economics at the University of Michigan. They write: ”The largest constituency on the Internet is apparently e-mail users; a proposal to charge high prices for e-mail is likely to be politically infeasible. However, e-mail can usually tolerate moderate delays. Under congestion pricing of the sort we are describing, e-mail users could put a low or zero bid price on their traffic, and would continue to face a very low cost.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Cost/Pricing
Name of publication: Public Access to the Internet (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Pricing the Internet
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 292
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne