http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6268.html * Quantifying the Economic Impact of the Internet* Published: August 17, 2009 Author: John Quelch Executive Summary: Businesses around the advertising-supported Internet have incredible multiplier effects throughout the economy and society. Professor John Quelch starts to put some numbers on the impact. Key concepts include: * Each Internet job supports approximately 1.54 additional jobs elsewhere in the economy, or roughly 2 percent of employed Americans. * The advertising-supported Internet creates annual value of $444 billion. * About 190 million people in the United States spend, on average, 68 hours a month on the Internet. A conservative valuation of this time is an estimated $680 billion.