Author: Joan Torrent Sellens
Programme: Doctoral Programme on the Information and Knowledge Society
Language: Catalan
Supervisor: Dr Jordi Vilaseca Requena
Faculty / Institute: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3)
Subjects: Science and Knowledge, Research, Culture, Humanities, Economy, Trade, International Economic Relations, World Economy, Marketing
Key words: Observable knowledge, Knowledge economy, New economy, Economic growth, Tacit knowledge, Information and communication technology (ICT)
Area of knowledge: Economy
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Summary
The process of economic globalization, the digital technological revolution, and the new patterns of demand have set the bases for a new economy which is characterized by mass incorporation of knowledge in economic activities. This new economy is the knowledge economy, and the knowledge economy is global and digital and has a growing demand for intangible goods. This research analyses, from the point of view of economic analysis, but with an indispensable interdisciplinary scope, the transformations in productive activities linked to intensive use of knowledge. The aim is to provide empirical evidence of how knowledge has become a productive factor and a good method of increasing economic importance since the second half of the 1990s in a great number of OECD countries. Based on the literature on the events and sources of the economic growth, the following hypotheses have been formed. First, economic application of ICT defines an economy based on knowledge. Second, mass incorporation of ICT in economic activities defines a new knowledge production process. And third, knowledge is a productive factor that determines the level and growth of productivity and, as a result, economic growth.