des of a network are directly connected to each other, the network will have 1n(n - 1) links. This defines a complete network. Distinct from this principle of network design, consider a network with I subscribers. The subscribers have access to the network's transmission services. If every subscriber can reach every other subscriber through the network, there are I(I-1) possible connections between subscribers. Those connections need not be physical connections provided by specific links; they instead refer to the completion of communications between subscribers that have access to a common network. Metcalfe's Law is the observation that because I subscribers can make I(I - possible connections between each other, the value of the network in terms of the number of interpersonal connections rises with the square of the number of subscribers. As George Gilder originally put it, Metcalfe "is the author of what I will call Metcalfe's law of the telecosm, showing the magic of interconnections: connect any number, 'n,' of machines - whether computers, phones or even cars - and you get 'n' squared potential value. Think of phones without networks or cars without roads. Conversely, imagine the benefits of linking up tens of millions of computers and sense the exponential power of the telecosm" (Gilder 1993, p. S158). Thus, Metcalfe's law refers to potential connections, the links that a network makes possible. This is equivalent to saying that a market with I traders has a number of potential economic transactions that is proportional to the square of the number of traders. Of course, potential transactions are very different from actual transactions. The value of such a network would be weighted by the likelihood of a transaction occurring and the potential benefits of a randomly chosen successful transaction. Thus, although the value may be proportional to the squared number of traders, the proportional weight may be very small indeed. The problem is further compounded if the likelihood of a successful match decreases 