European E-Commerce Policies in the Pioneering Days, the Gold Rush and the post-hype Era

The emergence of e-commerce in Europe is a fascinating policy study with key actors in all EU countries firmly assured that digitalization of the economy is the key to the magic kingdom of strong economic growth and the facilitation of global commerce. Moreover, the digital economy would require asserted policy responses to ensure that European jobs would not be taken over by the dominant US IT industry and the global, multinational industry players utilizing the technology. In this contribution we reveal how Denmark, Germany and France had rather similar policies furthering knowledge diffusion but were rather reluctant to use direct economic incentives, normative instruments, or e-government initiatives such as e-tendering and e-procurement. Yet the three countries pursued very different paths on the route towards the digital economy both when it comes to the responsiveness of government and to the implementation in society.