Word: varian
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...their demise. Travel agencies could be in very, very difficult shape, for instance. Says Newman: "I think you will eventually see some change in the distribution of automobiles, because people detest the process" of getting all their information from dealers; they prefer to gather data on the Net. Varian believes that shopping malls will continue to draw people, but many consumers will come only to visit movie theaters, restaurants, cafes and other entertainment outlets. He thinks shopping at stores will be a smaller fraction of the economic transactions occurring at the mall...
...improve education at every level," says Varian, "including elementary, high school, college and, most important, continuing and on-the-job education." Otherwise, a worsening skills shortage could dim the promise that the Internet will help narrow the gap between rich and poor. The gap could get even wider...
...Internet and intensified by the enthusiasm of investors for Internet stocks, some of which may take many years to justify their current prices, if they ever do. The result may be a "bubble" of inflated prices for some Internet and IT companies, ending in a crash. Varian observes that the vastly greater speed of business information collecting and decision making ought to help executives avoid costly mistakes. But, he adds, there is a "dark side of the force. When you do make a mistake, it can be a lot bigger...
Berkeley's Varian mentions a more specific problem: "constructing a legal infrastructure for contracting and doing business in cyberspace which requires standards for things such as digital signatures, time stamping, antitrust, taxes, content regulation, intellectual property, privacy, jurisdiction, liability." The industry needs uniform standards covering all these issues, he says, and "it's very naive to think [federal and state] governments aren't going to play a significant role in setting such legal rules...
...people as will be needed, and will enough of those technically skilled graduates come from poor and minority groups to make IT the great equalizer between economic haves and have-nots foreseen by some would-be prophets? At best, there is a long way to go. Right now, says Varian, "educational institutions are moving in fits and starts" to integrate computers into classroom work. Romer asserts that education is "probably the worst laggard in coming up with better ways to do things," and it will have to change because the skills of the workforce can no longer be improved just...