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Access to Knowledge
Defining and Measuring Economic, Legal, and Human Capital
• Technological access, legal rules, human capital
• Methodological considerations
– Scale and scope, complexity, diversity, psychology
• Possible components of a workable A2K index
Jim Chen
Dean and Professor of Law
University of Louisville
Components of A2K
• Three core components of A2K:
– Technological diffusion
– Legal regime
– Human capital/educational preparedness
• An A2K index should measure all three
– The real cost of technologial goods and tools
– Rules regarding expression, IP, innovation
– Computer interfaces and human languages
Methodological considerations
• Scale and scope
– Comprehensive (GDP/IDP)
– Jackknifing (Big Mac)
• Complexity
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Non-Gaussian models
Fractals v. finite models
Critical mass, tipping points
Dynamism and hysteresis
• Diversity v. uniformity
– Multiple dimensions of diversity
– Network effects
• The behavioral psychology of
quantitative evaluation
Scope and scale: Size does matter
• Global indexes capture multiple factors
– Comprehensive
– Less vulnerable to bias and obsolescence
• Local indexes are parsimonious jackknives
– Feasible and inexpensive
• Examples
– CPI v. IPD
– Yahoo v. Google
– Borges, Precision in Cartography and Science
Complexity
• A2K deals with complex phenomena
– Right-skewed, non-Gaussian distributions
• Power laws and fractals are a first step
– Good to know emergence and complexity
– But avoid falling into “asymptopia”
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Finite models: e.g., stretched exponentials
Critical mass and tipping points
Cheap speech and collective intelligence
Dynamic phenomena: e.g., hysteresis
Diversity
• Multiple dimensions of diversity
– Dominance (power)
– Heterogeneity (richness)
– Equitability (evenness)
• Network effects
– Human and computer languages
– Third-party applications (Window, iPhone)
– Wisdom of crowds
The behaviorial psychology of
quantitative evaluation
• Scale, scope carry their own temptations
– Norman’s “paradox of technology” applies
– Cleverly designed analysis minimizes
apparent complexity
• Choice of scales
– 0 to 1: e.g., HHI (a.k.a. Simpson’s D)
– Zero-centered: e.g., z-scores
– Unbounded: e.g., GDP per capita
• Heisenberg’s complaint
A workable A2K index?
• Economic indexes of technology and the
real costs of its acquisition and diffusion
– Overall well-being: GDP per capita
– Technology-specific indexes: CPI-ITC
– Always apply PPP for global comparisons
• Inverse of Engel’s Law as a jackknife
– Engel measured food as an inferior good
– Discretionary income spent on copyrightables
Components of A2K (cont’d)
• Legal indexes (reliable ones)
– Expressive freedom
– Balanced IP policy (innovation’s Laffer curve)
– Percentage of foreign origin within a country’s
information flow (adjusted for language, etc.)
– Degree of repression re: online content
• Cultural and educational indexes
– Wikipedia articles per native speaker equivalent
– Measures of linguistic distance
Thank you
Jim Chen
Dean and Professor of Law
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY 40292
[email protected]
(502) 852-6879
http://www.law.louisville.edu