Readers' Corner - The Knowledge Economy

Julie Gilbert and Alison Pier
Service Canada / HRSDC Library
Source: Workplace Bulletin, March 28, 2008

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The Knowledge Economy

Amman, John, Tris Carpenter, and Gina Neff, editors
Surviving the New Economy
Boulder, London: Paradigm Publishers, 2007
HD 8039 H542 U54 S97

This volume brings together contributions that form a picture of the symbiotic relationships between the global labour market, information technology, and the media in an information-centric society. Risks for workers in this highly mobile environment include increased responsibility for training and benefits, less security, and more restructuring.

DeFillippi, Robert J., Michael B. Arthur, and Valerie J. Lindsay
Knowledge at Work: Creative Collaboration in the Global Economy
Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2006
HD 53 D43

The authors propose a “knowledge diamond” – grounded in behavioural and social sciences – which focuses on the processes through which knowledge is created, accumulated, and put to use in an economy increasingly driven by knowledge work. The four key categories of participants in this model are individuals, organizations, industries, and communities. Case studies are used as a means of illuminating the differences between tacit and explicit knowledge, while also providing the reader a chance to reflect on best practices in harnessing intellectual property in a globalized, networked environment.

Kahin, Brian, and Dominique Foray, editors
Advancing Knowledge and the Knowledge Economy
Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press, 2006
HD 30.2 A38

The chapters in this volume are international in scope, and the contributors argue that economic growth, innovation, and wealth creation revolve around the generation and management of new knowledge. Topics covered include the changing roles of institutions, knowledge as it relates to the concept of place, the global labour market, and the emerging (cyber-) infrastructure which supports knowledge-transfer and information technology in a global economic landscape. The authors put forth ideas on how public policy in Europe could adapt to reflect the continent-wide goal of becoming the world’s most competitive knowledge-based economy.

Marcum, James W.
After the Information Age: A Dynamic Learning Manifesto
New York: Peter Lang, 2006
LB 1060 M47

The author underlines an educational perspective on the knowledge economy and calls for an overhaul of the system that would see increased prioritization of post-secondary institutions as nurturing grounds for innovation and knowledge creation. He discusses different learning styles, literacies, the limits of education, the rise of visual culture, and the corresponding implications for knowledge creation and a new kind of workplace. Now that various styles of intelligence and learning styles have been acknowledged, there is a greater obligation to ensure that more members of society can be accommodated within the educational system; in an information age, losing these potential contributions is too costly.

Westlund, Hans
Social Capital in the Knowledge Economy: Theory and Empirics
New York, N.Y.: Springer, 2006
HM 708 W37

The author puts forth the idea that social capital, or in other words the many-layered links that exist between individuals, is intrinsic to understanding the latent possibilities (as well as the drawbacks) of a knowledge-based economy. The concept of social capital has in fact emerged as an important ingredient of much scientific and scholarly work. Individual chapters relate this concept in the economic sense to labour market relations, entrepreneurship, and civil society in various parts of the world. Furthermore, the social capital inherent in organizations, individuals, and in society at large presents different challenges and opportunities in terms of formulating effective policy in the knowledge economy.