Political nudging?

Beyond the increased flow of goods, economists acknowledge that globalization has corresponded to a profound shift in the role that knowledge creation and innovation play introvert productivity and global economic growth, a phenomenon referred to as the knowledge economy.

Knowledge - unlike commodities - can be used multiple times and by more than person withouthout losing value, and it has marginal distribution costs. These facts open the possibility of an economic production factor with compounding rather than diminishing return.

The productiontion, distribution, and use of new knowledge and technological innovations has been a major contributors to increased productivity, the upgrade of physical capital, and the creation of new, high-value-added jobs.

Increases in human and technological capabilities are, in turn, major sources of new knowledge and innovation which then feed economic growth. From this perspective, technological innovation and new knowledge are both the engine and the product of economic growth.

But developments that are supported within an information society set broader social changes resulting from the convergence of technology and communication technologies, their assimilation throughout society and their use for communication, collaboration, and the sharing of knowledge.

As laptops wirelessly connected to the Internet, PDAs, low costvideo cameras and cell phones become more accessible and embedded in society, they offer the potential to restructure organizations, promote collaboration, increase democratic participation, improve the transparency and responsiveness of governmental agencies (as well as communities ..) to make education and health care more widely available, foster cultural creativity and enhance the social integration of individuals with different abilities and groups of different cultural backgrounds. Cartoons in Denmark? Hmmmm

But without our help ... national policy makers struggle (or are reluctant) to create conditions that support these developments in their countries and to craft policies and programs that cope with them and harness their effects to support economic growth and the public good.

Economic growth? Singapore.
Social development? Finland.

Policy leadership will be the key to any successfully development strategy particularly if these efforts are to contribute to economic and social transformation. Has to be. We can't do it all.

Check this out - successful development in Finland was guided by a clear vision of how the availability of new technologies could increase economic productivity, improve the quality of life and enrich the culture.

This vision was founded on broad-based consensus among public and private stakeholders (you and I) and as a result, it coordinated distributed efforts across sectors to accomplished shared goals.

Investment of time and effort to create such a vision at the national or ministerial level will have huge operational paybacks.

Do they need a push? Any volenteers from the blog-o-sphere? Call me ....