Internet and dot-com investment boom
1995~2000
Information-technology innovation and growth expectations accompanied expanding investment and higher technology-share valuations.
An analytical interval grouping innovation and investment expansion with the transition in 2000. It does not mark the beginning or end of internet adoption.
Conditions at the time
Low and stable inflation and information-technology productivity gains supported optimism.
How events unfolded
Investment and equity valuations increased in the late 1990s, while the growth trajectory changed around 2000.
Stakeholders and impacts
Technology companies, investors, households and monetary authorities responded to new growth expectations.
Information available at the time
The new-economy interpretation emphasized productivity improvements and expectations of future earnings.
Findings confirmed later
A Federal Reserve official’s 2001 retrospective distinguished innovation’s real-economy effects from excessive investment expectations.
Alternative interpretations and limitations
This does not mean all technology companies were overvalued or that innovation itself failed.
Source-based context and interpretation
Governor Meyer's retrospective recognizes IT-related productivity gains while describing demand, investment and earnings expectations expanding faster than supply capacity. Equity corrections and investment retrenchment in innovative industries did not eliminate the technology's real economic contribution. ASSETCASTING interpretation: A useful technology and a justified equity price are different propositions. Separate productivity, investment payback and valuation to read genuine innovation alongside excessive expectations. The speaker's analysis is not a trading signal for technology stocks.
Evidence coverage through 2001-06-06 · Sources checked 2026-10-14
Related events and periods1
- Global economic integration, IT investment, and recurring financial crises
An event or period whose recorded start falls within this editorial interval. This does not establish that it caused or represents the characteristics of the era, nor guarantee that the entire period falls within the interval.
Historical events do not guarantee future recurrence or investment performance.