This book explores why some members of Congress are more effective than others at navigating the legislative process and what this means for how Congress is organized and what policies it produces. Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman develop a new metric of individual legislator effectiveness (the Legislative Effectiveness Score) that will be of interest to scholars, voters, and politicians alike. They use these scores to study party influence in Congress, the successes or failures of women and African Americans in Congress, policy gridlock, and the specific strategies that lawmakers employ to advance their agendas.

This book explores why some members of Congress are more effective than others at navigating the legislative process and what this means for how Congress is organized and what policies it produces. Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman develop a new metric of individual legislator effectiveness (the Legislative Effectiveness Score) that will be of interest to scholars, voters, and politicians alike. They use these scores to study party influence in Congress, the successes or failures of women and African Americans in Congress, policy gridlock, and the specific strategies that lawmakers employ to advance their agendas.

The information technology sector of the United States economy, spurred on by the expansion of the Internet, has undergone explosive growth. According to one estimate, in 1998 Internet-related industries led to the creation of over 1.2 million jobs and generated more than $300 billion in revenue. At the same time the Internet has expanded immensely. As of December 1999, it was estimated that more than 4.9 million commercial websites had emerged, and in the closing months of the year, that number was increasing at a rate of almost 500,000 per month. The rapid growth of the 'Information Economy' has drastically changed the manner in which commercial transactions are conducted, as anything from material goods (such as books) to information goods (such as databases) can be procured with the ease of a mouse click. This essential new book investigates the underlying economics of certain facets of the Internet. By examining recent literature addressing economic aspects of the Internet and electronic commerce, as well as more traditional literature on pricing practices and market structure, this book serves as a roadmap of the current terrain in Internet-related economic matters, as well as a framework for future analysis.

In 1998, Internet-related industries created over a million jobs and generated more than $330 billion in revenue. As of December 1999, almost five million commercial websites had emerged, and that number was increasing at a rate of almost half a million per month. The explosive growth of the Internet economy has drastically changed the way commercial transactions are conducted, making anything from books to databases available at the click of a mouse. This book investigates the underlying economics of the Internet, focusing specifically on the pricing of access, the pricing of goods and services sold online, the relationship between network effects, technological innovation and business strategy, and the issues surrounding taxation of electronic commerce. Addressing the economic aspects of the Internet and electronic commerce as well as traditional pricing practices and market structure, this volume will serve as a roadmap for the current and future terrain of the Internet economy.