Pursuing the Knowledge Economy

Reviews / Votes

An interesting evaluation of the policy consensus of the 1990s and early 2000s concerning the opportunities afforded by digital technology and globalisation ... traces the historical evolution of the ideas ... and the way the financial crisis torpedoed any optimism about new opportunities to upskill the workforce and create satisfying new jobs. -- Diane Coyle, enlightenmenteconomics.com Ranging widely across politics and economics in lively and highly-accessible prose, this book provides one of the best guides we have to the promise and pitfalls of the knowledge economy - the defining economic development of our time. With discerning judgement and a magisterial command of the subject, it offers an antidote to techno-optimism as well as important recommendations for the future. -- Peter A. Hall, Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies, Harvard University For decades 'the knowledge economy' has been the goal of every left or right centrist democratic government, but as this succinct eye-opener of a book shows, while cadres of the highly skilled, owners of rents and intellectual property, possessors of monopolistic platforms and superstars hoovered up all the growth, the rest dropped back in earnings and status. The pandemic has demonstrated how we rely on those who can't work from home on laptops - the providers of utilities, services, care, food, health - and this book proves the need to revalue what they do, and to spread the wealth from knowledge economy beneficiaries to people and places left behind. -- Polly Toynbee, columnist, The Guardian The progressive goal of rising incomes and declining inequality has eluded governments across the developed world in recent decades and Nick O'Donovan provides a thoughtful and challenging account of how the third way 'knowledge economy' consensus failed to live up to its high expectations. With populism on the rise on both sides of the Atlantic, and the quest for 'inclusive growth' even more vital, he argues policy-makers need to challenge their assumptions and look for new solutions. His book is essential reading for anyone who seeks a prosperous, green and fair future for all. -- Ed Balls, former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer