This page shows the research papers by the project team that utilise the Knowledge Economy Index
Published papers
Socio-Economic Review, 2025, mwaf018.
Abstract: This article sets out to develop a new index capturing advanced capitalist democracies’ transition to the knowledge economy. Reviewing how the notion has evolved in the literature, the article proposes a definition of the knowledge economy based upon two key elements—technology and (high) skills. These are operationalized in six indicators and combined through Bayesian latent variable analysis to produce a new Knowledge Economy Index, covering twenty-two countries from 1995 to 2019. A descriptive exploration of the index provides important insights for the emerging body of work on the knowledge economy in comparative political economy. The index is the first to provide a comprehensive measure of the knowledge economy that accounts for both technology and skills across space and time. As such, it paves the way for future research examining the causes and consequences of the transition to the knowledge economy in advanced capitalist democracies.
Working papers
Skill-biased policy change: Governing the transition to the knowledge economy in Germany, Sweden and Britain
Under Review at Regulation & Governance
Abstract: How have advanced capitalist democracies transitioned from a Fordist to a post-Fordist, knowledge-based economy? And why have they followed seemingly similar policy trajectories despite vastly different economic models and sectoral specializations? We develop the notion of skill-biased policy change to answer these questions. Drawing on a distinction between valence and partisan issues in the transtition to the knowledge economy, we highlight the partisan and business group politics underpinning different policy areas to argue that policies that create or mobilize high-level skills attract relatively broader consensus across political parties and business groups than redistributive policies targeted at the lower end of labor market. The argument is illustrated through case studies of Germany, Sweden, and the UK – three countries that have transitioned to a knowledge-based economy but that have done so by relying on markedly different sectoral specializations.
Policy drivers of the transition to the knowledge economy: Market liberalization or public investment?
Working paper coming soon
Abstract: This paper examines the role of government policies in shaping the transition to the knowledge economy. To overcome the shortcomings of the existing empirical literature on this topic, we utilise the newly constructed Knowledge Economy Index as our dependent variable, which is based on six underlying indicators that capture both technology and (high) skills. We carry out a panel data analysis covering 22 OECD countries from 1995 - 2019. Our findings show that, all else equal, three policies are consistently and positively associated with the transition to the knowledge economy: public spending on tertiary education, public spending on early childhood education, and public spending on R&D. In contrast, measures of deregulation in financial and labour markets fail to show statistically significant effects. Overall, our results suggest that public investments have been more important than market liberalisation in promoting the transition to the knowledge economy in advanced capitalist democracies.