National Accounting Frameworks for Measuring Information and Knowledge Economies

The paper explores the problems and challenges posed by the growth of the information and knowledge economies for national accounting frameworks and measurements. The conventional approach has been to add to rather than reconstruct such indices. One of the consequences is the focus this leads to on “information technologies” and their prevalence and fails to fully appreciate the transformation that is required to enable “information” to be transformed into “new knowledge” and therefore create the “new economy. The paper argues for a recasting of the analysis of the new economy around an appreciation of the changing nature of physical capital brought about by the creation of new global data bases and transaction information. However alongside of this is an increased importance to intellectual assets, human and cultural capital and the rise of new networked relationships none of which are easily incorporated into national accounts