Access to KnowledgeDefining and Measuring Economic, Legal, and Human Capital

• Technological access, legal rules, human capital• Methodological considerations

– Scale and scope, complexity, diversity, psychology

• Possible components of a workable A2K index

Jim ChenDean and Professor of Law

University of Louisville

Components of A2K

• Three core components of A2K:– Technological diffusion– Legal regime– Human capital/educational preparedness

• An A2K index should measure all three– The real cost of technologial goods and tools– Rules regarding expression, IP, innovation– Computer interfaces and human languages

Methodological considerations

• Scale and scope– Comprehensive (GDP/IDP)– Jackknifing (Big Mac)

• Complexity– Non-Gaussian models– Fractals v. finite models– Critical mass, tipping points– Dynamism and hysteresis

• Diversity v. uniformity– Multiple dimensions of diversity– Network effects

• The behavioral psychology of quantitative evaluation

Scope and scale: Size does matter

• Global indexes capture multiple factors– Comprehensive– Less vulnerable to bias and obsolescence

• Local indexes are parsimonious jackknives – Feasible and inexpensive

• Examples– CPI v. IPD– Yahoo v. Google– Borges, Precision in Cartography and Science

Complexity

• A2K deals with complex phenomena– Right-skewed, non-Gaussian distributions

• Power laws and fractals are a first step– Good to know emergence and complexity– But avoid falling into “asymptopia”

• Finite models: e.g., stretched exponentials• Critical mass and tipping points• Cheap speech and collective intelligence• Dynamic phenomena: e.g., hysteresis

Diversity

• Multiple dimensions of diversity– Dominance (power)– Heterogeneity (richness)– Equitability (evenness)

• Network effects– Human and computer languages– Third-party applications (Window, iPhone)– Wisdom of crowds

The behaviorial psychology of quantitative evaluation

• Scale, scope carry their own temptations– Norman’s “paradox of technology” applies– Cleverly designed analysis minimizes

apparent complexity

• Choice of scales– 0 to 1: e.g., HHI (a.k.a. Simpson’s D)– Zero-centered: e.g., z-scores– Unbounded: e.g., GDP per capita

• Heisenberg’s complaint

A workable A2K index?

• Economic indexes of technology and the real costs of its acquisition and diffusion– Overall well-being: GDP per capita– Technology-specific indexes: CPI-ITC– Always apply PPP for global comparisons

• Inverse of Engel’s Law as a jackknife– Engel measured food as an inferior good– Discretionary income spent on copyrightables

Components of A2K (cont’d)

• Legal indexes (reliable ones)– Expressive freedom– Balanced IP policy (innovation’s Laffer curve)– Percentage of foreign origin within a country’s

information flow (adjusted for language, etc.)– Degree of repression re: online content

• Cultural and educational indexes– Wikipedia articles per native speaker equivalent– Measures of linguistic distance

Thank you

Jim Chen

Dean and Professor of Law

University of Louisville

Louisville, KY 40292

jim.chen@louisville.edu

(502) 852-6879

http://www.law.louisville.edu