The transition to the knowledge economy in advanced capitalist democracies: a new index for comparative research

Diessner, Sebastian, Durazzi, Niccolo, Filetti, Federico ORCID: 0000-0002-7287-1222, Hope, David, Kleider, Hanna and Tonelli, Simone (2025) The transition to the knowledge economy in advanced capitalist democracies: a new index for comparative research. Socio-Economic Review. ISSN 1475-1461

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Social Policy
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory T Technology H Social Sciences
JEL classification:	O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes P - Economic Systems > P5 - Comparative Economic Systems > P51 - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2025 09:24
Last Modified:	09 May 2025 20:07
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/127758

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