The knowledge gap

The knowledge gap!

Knowledge is like light; it is weightless and touchless, but it can move easily in the world, illuminating the lives of people everywhere, yet there are still billions of people living in the darkness of poverty.

This is the preamble to the IBRD World Development Report of 98/1999.

Knowledge is illuminated in every economic process; it shows preferences, clarifies exchanges, and transmits information to markets.

It is the lack of knowledge that causes markets to collapse or not to exist at all.

Knowledge-based development reflection reinforces some of the well-known lessons, such as the importance of an open trade system, comprehensive basic education, and focuses attention on needs that have sometimes overlooked scientific and technical training, research and development, to facilitate the flow of information to market.

Adopting policies that increase both types of knowledge: know-how and quality knowledge can improve people's lives in many respects, as well as higher incomes.

Increased knowledge of nutrition can mean better health even for those who have little to spend on food.

Knowledge on how to prevent the transmission of AIDS would save millions of health-debilitating diseases and death.

Very small credit programmes would also give the poor the opportunity to invest in a better future for themselves and their children.

Knowledge allows people to have better control over their amounts and things.

Unfortunately, there is a wide knowledge gap between developing and industrialized countries, and there are even knowledge gaps within countries.

Strategies for closing these gaps often have the same elements, and their effective application would go a long way towards reducing inequality and eradicating poverty.

The relationship between the knowledge gap and information problems, for example, is clear from the history of the Green Revolution; over time, it has become clear that improved plant species were necessary, but not enough to improve the lives of the rural poor.

The Green Revolution eventually succeeded in maximizing the income of poor, landless farmers.

The explosion of new knowledge, increased technical progress and the continuing increase in competition have made lifelong learning more important than ever before, and societies in order to narrow the knowledge gap must ensure basic education for all;

For individuals and countries, education is the key to the formation, adaptation and dissemination of knowledge, as basic education increases people's ability to learn and interpret information.

But that is only the beginning, because there is also a need for higher education and technical training, in order to build a workforce capable of keeping pace with the flow of technical progress, which is compressing production cycles and accelerating the depreciation of human capital.

Basic education, which in most countries means primary,,middle, secondary education, develops a person's ability to educate and interpret information, adapts knowledge to local conditions, and through its effects on economic productivity, and on other aspects of life, such as health, helps to determine human well-being.

Moreover, schooling supports agricultural innovation and enhances one's ability to reallocate resources, in response to economic change, to cope with price fluctuations or periods of ups and downs of business cycles.

Schooling also encourages the use of new techniques at home for health, nutrition, learning and pregnancy regulation.

Basic education is therefore a necessity to enhance people's ability to harness knowledge, especially in poorer countries.

There is also some evidence that higher education is important for economic growth.

The production of new knowledge, as well as its adaptation to the situation of a particular country, is generally linked to a high level of education and research.

To enhance the possibility that curricula and scientific research can remain, many schools and universities should build closer companies with industry and build bridges with industry through curricula that include work-based educational components.

Academics should also support research that leads directly to technical innovation, and welcome consultations for the private industrial sector.

Knowledge is a crucial element of development; everything we do is based on knowledge, so that in order to live we have to turn the resources at our disposal into things we need, which requires knowledge.

أُIf we are to live in a better tomorrow than we do today, if we are to raise our lives as a family and a country, to improve our health, to better educate our children and to preserve our environment, we must do more than just divert more resources; resources are scarce.

We must use these resources in ways to generate increased returns with our efforts and investments, which requires more knowledge of our resources.

Seeking knowledge begins with the decision that knowledge is not easy to buy off the shelf, as if it were vegetables or computers, and the ability to know about marketing is limited by two characteristics that distinguish it from more traditional goods.

First, the use of this or that part of knowledge by a person does not prevent others from using the same part, as economists say, is not competitive.

Secondly, once part of knowledge has become a common property, the creators of this knowledge cannot prevent others from using it, and knowledge is not exclusive.

These two characteristics of knowledge , the two main characteristics of public goods , often prepare people to use these goods unpaid, which reduces the gains that innovators make in their development of knowledge, which are not few.

Successful development, if involving more than investing in physical capital, also involves access to and use of knowledge through:

(1) Access to global knowledge and local knowledge development.

(2) Investing in human capital to absorb knowledge.

(3) Investment in technology; to facilitate access to knowledge.

In conclusion, I say:

Effective policies for accessing, absorbing and transferring knowledge are components that support each other with a comprehensive strategy aimed at closing the knowledge gap.

Is it time for that?