Economic Fundamentals Of the Knowledge Society

This article provides an introduction to fundamental issues in the development of new knowledge-based economies. After placing their emergence in historical perspective and proposing a theoretical framework that distinguishes knowledge from information, the authors characterize the specific nature of such economies. They go on to deal with some of the major issues concerning the new skills and abilities required for integration into the knowledge-based economy; the new geography that is taking shape (where physical distance ceases to be such an influential constraint); the conditions governing access to both information and knowledge, not least for developing countries; the uneven development of scientific, technological (including organizational) knowledge across different sectors of activity; problems concerning intellectual property rights and the privatization of knowledge; and the issues of trust, memory and the fragmentation of knowledge. This monograph is concerned with the nature of the process of macroeconomic growth that has characterized the U. S. experience, and manifested itself in the changing pace and sources of the continuing rise real output per capita over the course of the past two hundred years. A key observation that emerges from the long-term quantitative economic record is that the proximate sources of increases in real GDP per head in the century between 1889 and 1999 were quite different from those which obtained during the first hundred years of American national experience. Baldly put, the economy's ascent to a position of twentieth century global industrial leadership entailed a transition from growth based upon the interdependent development and extensive exploitation of its natural resources and the substitution of tangible capital for labor, towards a the maintenance of an productivity leadership through rising rates of intangible investment in the formation and exploitation of technological and organizational knowledge.

The coherence of EU trade, competition, and industry policies in the high tech sector : the case of the telecommunications services sector

We analyze the coherence existing among European Union competition, industry, and trade policies in the high tech sector in general terms focusing on its specific features (externalities, fast progress) and their effects on the emergence and treatment of policy consistency and conflicts. Second, this analysis is applied to the European telecommunications services sector. The examination of this sector and the relevant EU policies reveals a consensus on giving priority to competition. However structural factors prevent policy implementation to reflect much liberalization and harmonization and business responses to trade globalization challenge effective competition. The potential, important role of standardization is shown.economics of technology ;

The Explicit Economics of Knowledge Codification and Tacitness

not availableeconomics of technology ;

The patent system and the dynamics of innovation in Europe

After briefly examining the US challenge and the international and European dimensions of patent regulations, this paper devotes special attention to the short-term and long-term issues facing the European patent system. The concluding remarks reflect upon the problems and possible solutions identified in the article and discuss the role of the patent system in relation to the dynamics of innovation in Europ

A Natural Seismic Isolating System: The Buried Mangrove Effects

The Belleplaine test site, located in the island of Guadeloupe (French Lesser Antilles) includes a three-accelerometer vertical array, designed for liquefac- tion studies. The seismic response of the soil column at the test site is computed using three methods: the spectral ratio method using the vertical array data, a numerical method using the geotechnical properties of the soil column, and an operative fre- quency domain decomposition (FDD) modal analysis method. The Belleplaine test site is characterized by a mangrove layer overlaid by a stiff sandy deposit. This con- figuration is widely found at the border coast of the Caribbean region, which is exposed to high seismic hazard. We show that the buried mangrove layer plays the role of an isolation system equivalent to those usually employed in earthquake engineering aimed at reducing the seismic shear forces by reducing the internal stress within the structure. In our case, the flexibility of the mangrove layer reduces the distortion and the stress in the sandy upper layer, and consequently reduces the potential of liquefaction of the site

Linking Policy Research and Practice in 'STIG Systems': Many Obstacles, but Some Ways Forward

This paper reflects on the relevance of systems thinking about the interdependent policy issues bearing on the dynamics of science, technology and innovation in their relationship to economic growth. Considering the approach that characterizes much of the current economics literatures treatment of technology and growth policies, we pose the critical question: what kind of systems paradigm is likely to prove particularly fruitful in that particular problem-domain: Evolutionary, neo-Schumpeterian, and complex system dynamics approaches are conceptually attractive and we analyze their respective virtues while also acknowledging their more serious problematic features. Those become visible quickly when trying connect systems-relevant research with practical policy-making in this field. Not content to have simply identified some significant obstructions in the path toward that goal, the paper also suggests some potentially feasible ways forward.Techonological Change, systems paradigm, STIG systems,

Vorbemerkungen zum Thementeil

In jüngerer Zeit hat das Thema der pädagogischen Autorität sowohl in Deutschland als auch in Frankreich Eingang in die Medien und in den akademischen Diskurs gefunden. Die Anlässe sind vergleichbar, wenn auch nicht gleichermaßen dramatisch: die massiven Disziplinprobleme in den Schulen der Pariser Vorstädte, die vehementen Proteste und Ausschreitungen der Jugendlichen, aber auch und beispielhaft die pädagogische Bankrotterklärung der Lehrer/innen der Rütli-Schule in Berlin und andere bedeutsame und andere einzelne Problemsituationen. [...] Die/Der deutschsprachige Leser/in erhält interessante Einblicke in das Denken französischer Autor/innen, deren Arbeiten bisher nicht oder kaum ins Deutsche übersetzt worden sind. Dazu gehören nicht nur die französischen Autoren, die zu diesem Heft beigetragen haben, sondern freilich auch jene, die sie in ihren Beiträgen diskutieren, beispielsweise Gauchet (2002), Renaut (2004) oder Revault d’Allonnes (2006) – Autorinnen und Autoren, die weder für das Verfassen von Streitschriften noch für schnelle Antworten bekannt sind. (DIPF/Orig.

An assessment of the Innovation Union Scoreboard as a tool to analyse national innovation capacities: The case of Switzerland

This article investigates the Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS) as a tool to carry out case studies about national innovation capacities in the case of given countries. It clarifies what this statistical framework can offer in terms of information and insights on strengths and weaknesses of a given country relative to the other countries which are also involved in this statistical exercise. The investigation is carried out through the case study of Switzerland; a country that is leading the IUS ranking for many years. The approach will therefore start with the full analysis of the IUS results for Switzerland. Then other statistical evidence as well as qualitative insights will be added to the discussion to identify what really matters to explain success and the potential weaknesses the Swiss policy should care about. The conclusion is that if the IUS can be considered as an important tool to inform innovation policies, it should not be applied in an isolated manner or without relying on other types of indicators and information on the system considere