Second Modernization -- Information Technology and the New Order of the American Economy

Author: Hu Yanping, Editor-in-Chief
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Features: The so-called "new economy" since the mid-1990s was merely a stage crystallization of the second modernization process in the United States since the 1960s. The "new economy" is an immature and incomplete generalization, while the arrival of the information economy and information society is an undeniable fact. Despite the rampant bubble theories, the development of the information industry and informatization globally has entered a period of adjustment. However, the history driven by the second modernization has just begun. The U.S. Department of Commerce's "Digital Economy 2000," as a historic document in this regard, has not lost its value due to temporary market downturns. On the contrary, in systematic and precise research on information technology and productivity, IT investment and economic development, IT industrial structure and investment development patterns, international division of labor in the information industry, and human resources, "Digital Economy 2000" remains the most classic reading to date. It also serves as a stage measure of the impact of the second modernization on the U.S. economy and the information industry. As a result: the digital economy and digital society are no longer "emerging"; they are right around us. Developed Western countries have fully entered a new era of economic and social development. There is a historic synergy between the development and application of information technology and the enhancement of social vitality and production efficiency. The innovation and development journey of information technology has just begun. The future forms of human society, business, and life will be largely shaped by the continuous innovation of information and biotechnology.