To assess the contributions of digital trade to the U.S. economy, it is important tounderstand how the economy can benefit from the development and application of newInternet-based technologies. Studies that have quantified the economic contributions ofthe Internet use a variety of analytic methods and have reported a wide range of results.They generally have found that the Internet has made significant contributions to the U.S.economy, employment, consumer welfare, trade, innovation, productivity, and financialperformance, as shown in table ES.5.