The knowledge-based economy: Conceptual framework or buzzword?

In the last two decades, concepts have appeared that have influenced and even defined entire science and technology policies in Western countries: high technology, national system of innovation, information economy, knowledge-based economy, and the new economy. In all these policy developments, the OECD, acting as a think tank for its member countries, has been an important promoter of these concepts, turning them into buzzwords. This article looks at the concept of knowledge-based economy in order to explore the crucial role of the OECD in its dissemination and, above all, the role statistics have played in shaping policy discourses. © Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005.