The Knowledge Economy/Society: The Latest Example of “Measurement Without Theory”?

The world has embraced a set of concepts (knowledge driven growth) which are seen as the ‘core of future growth and wellbeing’ without any commonly agreed notion of what they are, how they might be measured, and crucially therefore, how they actually do (or might) affect economic growth and social wellbeing. The theory of how the mechanism works lacks important detail.Knowledge Economy; Knowledge Society; Human Capital; Theory of the Firm

The EBEX Experiment

EBEX is a balloon-borne polarimeter designed to measure the intensity and polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The measurements would probe the inflationary epoch that took place shortly after the big bang and would significantly improve constraints on the values of several cosmological parameters. EBEX is unique in its broad frequency coverage and in its ability to provide critical information about the level of polarized Galactic foregrounds which will be necessary for all future CMB polarization experiments. EBEX consists of a 1.5 m Dragone-type telescope that provides a resolution of less than 8 arcminutes over four focal planes each of 4 degree diffraction limited field of view at frequencies up to 450 GHz. The experiment is designed to accommodate 330 transition edge bolometric detectors per focal plane, for a total of up to 1320 detectors. EBEX will operate with frequency bands centered at 150, 250, 350, and 450 GHz. Polarimetry is achieved with a rotating achromatic half-wave plate. EBEX is currently in the design and construction phase, and first light is scheduled for 2008.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Figure 1 is changed from the one which appeared in the Proceedings of the SPI

Prostate cancer - evidence of exercise and nutrition trial (PrEvENT):Study protocol for a randomised controlled feasibility trial

Background: A growing body of observational evidence suggests that nutritional and physical activity interventions are associated with beneficial outcomes for men with prostate cancer, including brisk walking, lycopene intake, increased fruit and vegetable intake and reduced dairy consumption. However, randomised controlled trial data are limited. The ‘Prostate Cancer: Evidence of Exercise and Nutrition Trial’ investigates the feasibility of recruiting and randomising men diagnosed with localised prostate cancer and eligible for radical prostatectomy to interventions that modify nutrition and physical activity. The primary outcomes are randomisation rates and adherence to the interventions at 6 months following randomisation. The secondary outcomes are intervention tolerability, trial retention, change in prostate specific antigen level, change in diet, change in general physical activity levels, insulin-like growth factor levels, and a range of related outcomes, including quality of life measures. Methods/design: The trial is factorial, randomising men to both a physical activity (brisk walking or control) and nutritional (lycopene supplementation or increased fruit and vegetables with reduced dairy consumption or control) intervention. The trial has two phases: men are enrolled into a cohort study prior to radical prostatectomy, and then consented after radical prostatectomy into a randomised controlled trial. Data are collected at four time points (cohort baseline, true trial baseline and 3 and 6 months post-randomisation). Discussion: The Prostate Cancer: Evidence of Exercise and Nutrition Trial aims to determine whether men with localised prostate cancer who are scheduled for radical prostatectomy can be recruited into a cohort and subsequently randomised to a 6-month nutrition and physical activity intervention trial. If successful, this feasibility trial will inform a larger trial to investigate whether this population will gain clinical benefit from long-term nutritional and physical activity interventions post-surgery. Prostate Cancer: Evidence of Exercise and Nutrition Trial (PrEvENT) is registered on the ISRCTN registry, ref number ISRCTN99048944. Date of registration 17 November 2014.10 page(s

Testing for long-run "sustainability": Genuine Savings estimates for Britain, 1760-2000

Genuine Savings has been proposed as an economic indicator of sustainable development, and has been the focus of World Bank sustainability assessments for countries globally. However, whilst the theoretical basis for Genuine Savings is well-established (Arrow et al, 2011; Hamilton and Withagen, 2007; Pezzey, 2004), its ability to forecast long-run trends in well-being remains un-tested. In this paper, we take a first step towards such an assessment by constructing a time series of estimates for produced, natural and human capital for Britain over the period 1760-2000, and use them to derive estimates of Genuine Savings. The next step in the project will be to compare these Genuine Savings estimates with a range of well-being indicators to answer the question: does positive Genuine Savings predict improvements in average well-being

Comprehensive investment and future well-being in the USA, 1869-2000

This paper reports long-run tests of how comprehensive investment (CI) predicts future well-being in the USA. Theory suggests that a country with a positive level of CI should experience non-declining future utility. Despite the widespread uptake of CI, previous tests of its predictive power are for short time intervals. We assemble data for increasingly-comprehensive measures of US capital back to 1869 which are used to predict future consumption per capita. Our results show that with the inclusion of natural and human capital, CI can predict changes in future well-being reasonably well over 20 years into the future. Extending CI, to include measures of intangible or social capital, yield results that closely predict consumption over 20-50 years horizons

How Environmental Pollution from Fossil Fuels can be included in measures of National Accounts and Estimates of Genuine Savings

In this paper, we examine means to incorporate the environmental effects of fossil fuel use into national accounts and genuine savings estimates. The main focus is on the rationales for the inclusion of carbon dioxide, and its appropriate price tag. We do this in the context of the pricing of historic carbon emissions in United Kingdom over the long run (from the onset of the industrial revolution to the present). Furthermore, we examine the reasonableness of taking into account other greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. The global effects of carbon dioxide are compared to the local detrimental effects of the production and consumption of coal in the UK

SEDP-2014-03-Oxley-Hanley-Greasley-Blum-McLaughlin-Kunnas-Warde

Genuine Savings has emerged as a widely-used indicator of sustainable development. In this paper, we use long-term data stretching back to 1870 to undertake empirical tests of the relationship between Genuine Savings (GS) and future well-being for three countries: Britain, the USA and Germany. Our tests are based on an underlying theoretical relationship between GS and changes in the present value of future consumption. Based on both single country and panel results, we find evidence supporting the existence of a cointegrating (long run equilibrium) relationship between GS and future well-being, and fail to reject the basic theoretical result on the relationship between these two macroeconomic variables. This provides some support for the GS measure of weak sustainability. We also show the effects of modelling shocks, such as World War Two and the Great Depression

Comprehensive investment and future well-being in the USA, 1869-2000

This paper reports long-run tests of how comprehensive investment (CI) predicts future well-being in the USA. Theory suggests that a country with a positive level of CI should experience non-declining future utility. Despite the widespread uptake of CI, previous tests of its predictive power are for short time intervals. We assemble data for increasingly-comprehensive measures of US capital back to 1869 which are used to predict future consumption per capita. Our results show that with the inclusion of natural and human capital, CI can predict changes in future well-being reasonably well over 20 years into the future. Extending CI, to include measures of intangible or social capital, yield results that closely predict consumption over 20-50 years horizons

Innovative methods to centre children in research:Celebrating 10 years of play with the PEDAL Research Centre

Centring children in play research is fundamental for both children and researchers. It also offers the opportunity to gain important insights that would otherwise remain hidden from view for other beneficiaries of research, such as practitioners, service providers, and policy makers. This paper highlights three projects led by the PEDAL Research Centre over its first decade, all of which incorporate child-centred design, data collection, or co-production. The ChiRPP project investigates peer play and social development in early and middle childhood; the Healthy Start Happy Start study evaluates a playful parent–child intervention to reduce challenging behaviour in early childhood; and Children on the Move explores how young children reclaim and reshape spaces for play. While PEDAL has contributed to innovative and child-centred research methods over the last decade, there are many areas for future learning and some challenges to overcome. PEDAL continues our commitment to ensuring that children are meaningfully centred in play research