Abstract.

TCP can be thought of as a virtual economic system: packet drops play the role of prices, Jacobson's TCP algorithm plays the role of a rational utility-maximizing economic agent, and the whole network manages to solve a social welfare optimization problem.

What social welfare do existing P2P algorithms seek to maximize? What is the economic interpretation of P2P tradeoffs? —should I send to a content-poor peer, or to a well-connected peer? should I offer to upload, or should I pay to download? How does the economic interpretation translate into actual algorithms? How should ISPs use price signals in this virtual economy to control their networks? Will the network operate autonomically?