Electronic Economy

1. Introduction
The electronic economy is a new concept that has recently captured the attention of many people – scientists from various fields – technical, economic, and social; business circles – stock market investors, corporate supervisory boards responsible for development strategies, and company management responsible for day-to-day operations; the world of politics, particularly the major economic powers of the world – the United States, the European Union, and Japan; and consequently, the media. The question everyone is asking is significant – are we dealing with a new industrial revolution that will fundamentally change the functioning of the global economy, or just a passing fad that will quickly fade away.

In this article, we present a logical sequence of arguments that we are dealing with a phenomenon of enormous economic significance. In section 2, we present the electronic economy as a result of natural development. In section 3, we discuss digital products and services. Sections 4 and 5 are devoted to electronic commerce and business. Section 6 contains a summary.

2. Electronic economy as a result of natural development
The electronic economy is not a freak of nature or a surprising phenomenon, but a natural, subsequent stage of economic development. To demonstrate this thesis, let us note that every economy, in every period, focuses on goods that can be transported, and its organization depends on the communication capabilities of people. Let us consider three eras in which horse-drawn transport, rail and sea transport, and automotive transport dominated respectively.

In the era when the primary means of transport was the horse, the economy focused on food – for both people and animals. Communication between people, necessary for organizing business, relied on direct meetings, to which the parties involved traveled on foot or on horseback. A complementary form of communication was the exchange of letters, also carried either on foot by couriers or transported on horseback. The society, which can be called an agrarian society, was organized in a way that ensured the efficiency of food management. Due to the characteristic features of the transport and communication means of that time, the economy was highly localized – the largest part of trade, both in quantity and value, took place between the city, which was a larger population center, and the surrounding villages and manors. The most important role in agrarian society was played by people who owned the largest tracts of land. They were, after all, the largest producers of the basic economic good, which was food.

A radical change occurred after the emergence and dominance of rail and sea transport. It enabled the transport of natural resources, such as crude oil, coal, and metal ores, which for obvious reasons could not be transported on a mass scale by horse. The economy therefore focused on raw materials, pushing food into the background. New fortunes grew, of which Rockefeller is the best symbol. The area in which business was conducted expanded due to the speed of rail transport – in one day, one could travel by horse to a neighboring village a few or a dozen kilometers away. In the same time, one could travel dozens or hundreds of kilometers by train. The invention of the telephone enabled the organization of business processes at a distance, without the need for direct meetings. These economic changes were followed by enormous social changes – urbanization, the development of democracy as a political system, universal access to cultural goods, changes in lifestyle, etc. The changes were so great that they are referred to as the industrial revolution.