90年代以来,美国经济增长强势不减,国内市场消费旺盛,通货膨胀率在低位徘徊,肆虐全球的东南亚危机和横空出世的欧元仿佛对其没有什么负面影响。过去9年里,美国经济的年平均增长率高达3%,今年的经济增长仍可达到3%以上,而欧盟1999年的经济增长率勉强只能保持在2%左右。美国经济一枝独秀的现象引发了人们深层次的思考,倒底是什么如此强劲地拉动美国经济增长呢?美国经济界普遍认为,信息技术的发展及运用是推动美国经济发展的最主要因素。美国官方统计数据显示,其1/3的经济增长来源于信息技术,高速发展的美国信息技术产业创造了740万余个就业岗位。网络在美国的普及为电子商务的发展奠定了坚实的基础,如今人们已经逐渐习惯从网上获取信息和进行交易。1998年,美国32%的上网者在网上购物,人数比3年前增加了3倍。同一年,网上的投资人数同上年相比猛增42%,上风销售的零售商比上 Since the 1990s, the United States has witnessed an unabated economic growth, a booming consumption in the domestic market and a low inflation rate. The Southeast Asian crisis that has wreaked havoc on the whole world and the turned-out euro seem to have no negative impact on the economy. In the past nine years, the average annual growth rate of the U.S. economy has been as high as 3%. This year’s economic growth can still reach over 3%. The EU’s economic growth rate in 1999 barely managed to stay at around 2%. The phenomenon of the thriving economy in the United States has triggered deep-seated pondering over what is driving such a strong economic growth in the United States. The U.S. economic community generally believes that the development and application of information technology are the most important factors driving the U.S. economy. U.S. official statistics show that one-third of its economic growth comes from information technology. The fast-growing U.S. information technology industry has created more than 7.4 million jobs. The popularity of the Internet in the United States has laid a solid foundation for the development of e-commerce, and now people are gradually getting used to getting information and trading online. In 1998, 32% of U.S. Internet users were shopping online, a threefold increase from three years ago. In the same year, the number of online investors surged 42% over the previous year, while sales of top-selling retailers