The Weightless Economy in Economic Development

Danny Quah ()

No 2094, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Can the increasing significance of knowledge-products in national income---the growing weightless economy---influence economic development? Those technologies reduce ``distance'' between consumers and knowledge production. This paper analyzes a model embodying such a reduction. The model shows how demand-side attributes---consumer attitudes on complex goods; training, education, and skills for consumption (rather than production)---can importantly affect patterns of economic growth and development. Evidence from the failed Industrial Revolution in 14th-century China illustrates the empirical relevance of the analysis.

Keywords: China; copyright; Growth; Information Technology; intellectual property; knowledge-product; patent; software; superstars; tacit knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N15 O11 O14 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=2094 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Weightless Economy in Economic Development (1999)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:2094

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cepr.org/ ... ers/dp.php?dpno=2094

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CEPR ().