Download Measuring a Knowledge Based Economy and Society

Tony Weir
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Measuring a Knowledge Based
Economy and Society
(email: [email protected])
Definition
A knowledge-based economy is an economy
in which the production, distribution and use
of knowledge is the main driver of growth,
wealth creation and employment across all
industries. (OECD 1996, APEC 2000)
Motivation
“The ability to create, distribute and exploit
knowledge is increasingly central to
competitive advantage, wealth creation and
better standards of living…While the overall
trends are clear, large differences remain
within the OECD area.” (OECD (2001)
Approaches to KBE/S
measurement
• Statistical indicators within the context of a
descriptive framework
• A KBE/S index
• Direct measurement of knowledge
Why create a KBE/S
framework?
• ABS thought it important to present
measures of the knowledge based economy
and society.
• A framework provides a structure and logic
for statistical content.
• We call our framework a “descriptive
framework”.
Basis of the KBE/S framework
• OECD New economy: beyond the hype
(2001)
• Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation
(APEC) Towards KBEs in APEC (2000)
• ABS work on social capital etc.
Structure of the KBE/S
framework
• Three core dimensions
– Innovation and entrepreneurship
– Human capital
– Information and communications technology.
• Two supporting dimensions
– Context
– Economic and social impacts.
Simplified framework structure
Context
Information and
communications
technology
Innovation &
entrepreneurship
Human capital
Numerous context
influences
Economic and social impacts
Structure of the framework (ctd)
• Each dimension is described in terms of:
– characteristics
– indicators (quantitative measures of
characteristics)
Example
• Dimension:
– Human capital
• One characteristic from the dimension:
– Stock of skilled people
• One indicator of this characteristic:
– Highest completed level of educational
attainment of the population, by age and sex.
Indicators of the framework
• Ideally an indicator should be:
–
–
–
–
–
relevant to the characteristic it is measuring
supported by relevant and timely data
sensitive to what it is measuring
intelligible
available for several periods, including recent
ones
– available for other countries.
Status of the ABS framework
• Publication of a Discussion Paper in
August 2002
• Parallel release of HTML version
– with hot links to data sources for statistical
indicators
• Much data already published elsewhere.
Knowledge-intensive Industries, 1998
% of total gross value added
United States
Germany
United Kingdom
France
OECD (23)
Finland
Korea
Other Knowledgeintensive services
Canada (1997)
High and medium-hightechnology manufactures
AUSTRALIA
Health and Education
Norway (1997)
0
10
20
30
% of GVA
40
50
Knowledge Workers as % of employed people, 2000
Finland
Sweden
Germany
Canada
New Zealand
United Kingdom
AUSTRALIA
United States
Ireland
Japan
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Proportion of skilled occupations, 1989-2001
% share of total employment
40
37
34
High
31
Medium
Low
28
25
1989
1993
1997
2001
Investment in Knowledge, 1998
(Broader definition, as a percentage of GDP)
Sweden
United States
Korea
Canada
OECD Total
Germany
R&D
Japan
Software
United Kingdom
Higher education
Other levels of Education
AUSTRALIA
Ireland
0
2
4
6
8
% of GDP
10
12
14
“Workers will require the ability to
create, analyse and transform
information and to interact effectively
with others…. Learning will increasingly
be a lifelong activity.”
-Alan Greenspan (July 2000)
Percentage who have NOT completed school 1999
Mexico
Malaysia
New Zealand
AUSTRALIA
US
Ireland
Korea
Japan
0
20
40
Percent
60
80
Trends in multi-factor productivity growth*
Ireland
Finland
AUSTRALIA
Canada
Sweden
United States
Norway
Germany
1990-95
United Kingdom
1995-99
Japan
New Zealand
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
% change p.a.
4.0
5.0
Contribution to labour productivity growth in
Australia and the US over the late 1990's*
4
% increase per year
3.5
3
2.0
2.5
MFP grow th
2
Other Capital
1.6
0.4
1.5
1
0.1
1.3
0.5
0.9a
0
US(1)
AUSTRALIA(2)
ICT Total
Collaboration, by type of innovation, by country,
1999
Sweden (East
Gothia)
Norway
Suppliers
Denmark
Customers
Other
Austria
AUSTRALIA
0
1
2
3
4
Number of collaborators per innovative firm, by category
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
KBI (%GDP)
Services Exports (%GDP)
HT Export (% mfg exports)
FDI /GDP
Govt Transparency
Financial Transparency
Competition Policy
Australia
Openness
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
Mobile Telephones p.c.
Phone lines p.c.
Computers p.c.
Internet Users p.c. (1999)
Internet Users p.c. (2001)*
e-commerce (%)
INNOVATION SYSTEM
Researchers p.c.
GERD /GDP
BERD / GDP
US Patents p.c.
Company co-op
Company-uni co-op
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Secondary Enrolments
NSE Graduates p.c.
% Knowledge Workers
HDI
0
1
2
2
Australia
1
0
2
Canada
1
0
2
S’pore
1
X
0
2
Korea
1
0
Bus Env
ICT
Innov Sys
HRD
“If governments and their citizens are
not to be swept away in the ‘gales of
creative destruction’ marking the
evolution of the knowledge economy,
they will need to fill the vacuum in
understanding which currently exists.”
- A. Burton-Jones, Knowledge
Capitalism (1999)
Comments are sought on all
aspects of the framework
• theoretical and empirical basis
• structure and choice of dimensions &
characteristics
• range of indicators proposed including priorities
• dissemination possibilities
– comprehensive compendia
– thematic publications
– frequent summary releases in paper or via Web.