Transition to the Knowledge-Based Economy within the Modernization Paradigm for the States in the Core and Semi-Periphery of the Global Economic System

Abstract

The article generalizes the features of modern transition from industrial to post-industrial (or knowledge-based) economy within the modernization paradigm for the states in the core and semi-periphery of the global economic system. It is proved that among the historical diversity of national modernization phenomena one can single out two alternative models: an innovative model and a catching-up one. It is substantiated that the innovative model is most typical for the countries forming the core of the world economic system, while the catching-up model is more typical for countries in the periphery of global development. It is revealed that modern intellectual production covers, first of all, economic sectors producing information and knowledge. At the same time, intellectual capital also functions in productive industries, influencing their indicators as well. That is why knowledge workers, who form the intellectual strata of society, are considered to be subjects of intangible intellectual production, the latter making up the core of knowledge economy. Their main function is to produce intellectual products (socially valuable knowledge), in contrast to groups, whose social function is to embody these values and knowledge. It should also be noted that concrete historical forms of knowledge objectivisation, ways of their reproduction and, accordingly, historical types of intellectual layers can differ considerably. It is concluded that knowledge-based economy is considered as a sphere of economic activity, which nowadays is characterized by intensive use of intellectual capital as the main economic resource, in the fields of material production as well.

Keywords

• knowledge economy
• modernization paradigm
• states in the core of the global economic system
• states in the semi-periphery of the global economic system