Access to Knowledge Defining and Measuring Economic, Legal, and Human Capital Technological access,...
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Transcript of Access to Knowledge Defining and Measuring Economic, Legal, and Human Capital Technological access,...
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
(502) 852-6879
http://www.law.louisville.edu