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IAN MACPHERSONPROFESSOR EMERITUS OF HISTORY CO-DIRECTOR, THE NATIONAL HUB
THE CANADIAN SOCIAL ECONOMY RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPSUNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
Knowledge, Research and the People-Centred
Economy
The Knowledge-based Economy
New innovationFree giftForward planningGoing forward
Knowledge and economies
Roles in Canadian economic activitiesAn even longer viewKnowledge and the rise of capital and labourThe emergence of knowledge as a driver of
economic developmentThe Social Economy and the uneven
development of knowledge
The “New” Perspective
The OECD economies are increasingly based on knowledge and information. Knowledge is now recognised as the driver of productivity and economic growth, leading to a new focus on the role of information, technology and learning in economic performance.
OECD, The Knowledge-based Economy (Paris, 1996)
More….
For countries in the vanguard of the world economy, the balance between knowledge and resources has shifted so far towards the former that knowledge has become perhaps the most important factor determining the standard of living - more than land, than tools, than labour. Today's most technologically advanced economies are truly knowledge-based. World Bank, World Development Report, 1999
Instrumentalist Uses of Research
Creator of jobsFacilitator of tradeRoles in “Easy Globalisation”Funds and positions for research
The larger knowledge possibilities
Roles of (mostly) conservative think tanks and research centres
Research and “movers and shakers” (Janine Wedel, Shadow Elite: How the World’s New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy (New York: Basic Books, 2009)
Research, knowledge and flexibility
Ten top Distinguishing Features of Research into the People-centred Economy
1. Concerned with communities2. Different views and understandings3. Matters of culture (European Cultural
Parliament, Culture, the heart of a knowledge-based economy. Tuscany, 2006.
Ten Top Reasons….
4 Matters of values the primacy of individual and social objective over capital; voluntary and open membership; democratic control by the members; combination of the members' interests, of the users'
interest and/or the general interest; Application of solidarity and responsibility principles; self powered management independent of public authorities use of essential surplus for sustainable development
objectives, member services or services of general interest.
Social Economy Europe, 2009
Top Ten….
5 Importance for specific groups6 Need to treasure institutional varieties7 Need to honour different modes, objectives
and styles of research and knowledge creation
8 Need to embrace international perspectives9 Moving beyond instrumentalism10 Engaging with others
