Part 3 The development of the knowledge economy 知识经济的发展

There have long been markets in tin, cocoa, silver and the like. There used to be security in thinking that somewhere there was a product, something you could touch and see. Now there are new markets in abstractions, trade in ideas and knowledge. Everyone has knowledge but they used to be no way to trade it--except through jobs. That simple fact of economic life was the basis for white collar employment for centuries. The whole job culture grew up because there was no alternative way to sell knowledge, other than the worker or manager providing, for a fixed price, his or her knowledge to an employer to own or control. The quantity of knowledge provided has typically been measured in time.

锡，可可豆，银和其他类似产品有一个漫长的贸易市场。在过去曾经有一个保守的想法是产品都是可以触摸到并且可以看到。现在有一个抽象的新市场，点子和知识的交易。每个人都有知识，但是在过去没有方式进行交易-除了通过工作。 那样经济生活的一个简单的事实是几个世纪的雇佣关系的基础。整个雇佣制文化的发展是应为没有其他替代的方法去销售知识，除了给工人或者经理提供一份固定的薪水，他/她的知识是给雇佣者拥有或者控制。提供的知识数量通常是按照时间来衡量。

But today we stand at the threshold of a new era. The information economy has matured and become smarter. According to many business commentators, we are now living in a knowledge economy. There has always been a market for knowledge, of course. The publishing industry is based on it. But today the internet is making the distribution of knowledge ever easier. The days when the publisher decided what got published are over. Any one with a PC and a modern can talk to the world. This is reducing the friction in the knowledge economy.

但是今天我们站在了一个新纪元的开始。信息经济已经成熟并且变得越来越灵活。根据很多商业评论员说，我们正生活在一个知识经济的时代。当然，有一个知识的市场。出版业就是基于此。但是今天互联网正在使得知识的流通变得更加的容易。出版商决定出版什么的时代已经结束。任何人，只要你拥有一个电脑和一个连接互联网的调制解调器，你就能更全世界交谈。在知识经济中这正在减少摩擦。

Everyone has knowledge of what ever industry she or he is in. Say you are a computer dealer, for example. Over the years you have compiled a list of the ten best lowest price places to buy whole sale computer equipment. Now you can sell your knowledge to newer, younger computer dealers who have no way to build up this knowledge without losing thousands of pounds finding it out the hard way. Until now, such knowledge remained securely locked in the recipient's head, accumulated and then worthlessly withered away. This no longer needs to be the case. Such knowledge can be sold via websites.

每个人都拥有他或她所在行业的知识。比如说你是一个电脑经销商。这些年来，你已经收集了一个列表，列表中有10个最低的价格去批发电脑设备。现在你能卖这些知识给一个新的，年轻的电脑经销商，那些年轻人不花上上千英镑没有办法建立起这样的知识体系。直到现在，这样的知识还妥善的保留在那些有这样知识的头脑中，积累，然后毫无价值的慢慢消失。这种情况不在会发生。这样的知识可以通过互联网被销售。

Knowledge has a distinct advantage in today's marketplace: it's a renewable resource. Better yet, its worth actually increases. "Knowledge is the only asset that grows with use," observes Stanford University Professor Paul Romer. But what exactly is knowledge and how can it be packaged to trade an open market? "knowledge is experiential information, intelligence applied through and gained from experience." say Joseph Pine and James Gilmore in their book The Experience Economy.

在今天的市场中，知识有一个显著的优点：知识是一个可再生的资源。 甚至更好，他的价值实际商是不断的增加。“知识是唯一随着不断使用而增长的资产”，斯坦福大学的教授Paul Romer观察说。但是什么是精确的定义知识并如何能够包装对外进行销售呢？“知识是一种经验的信息，通过应用的智慧，并能够通过经验获取，Joseph Pine和James Gilmore在他们的经验经济这本书中写道。

The value of knowledge often depends on variables such as time and the credibility of the seller. Certain knowledge may have a very limited shelf life. Insights concerning how to set up an internet business in one country, might be worth a fortune on one day and nothing the next, depending on changes in government policy. Markets in knowledge will be significant: for one thing, they represent one of the most original uses of the web technology. In some corner of the globe there is a company wanting to source plastic widgets from Poland, and somewhere else another company that wishes to set up a plastics factory there. It's simply a case of connecting the two.

知识的价格经常取决于一些易变的因素，比如说时间和卖家的信誉。某一些知识可能有一个非常有限的期限。关注于如何在一个国家建立一个互联网业务的远见可能在一天非常有价值，但是在后一天却一文不值，他们都非常依赖于政府的政策。知识的市场将变得重要：对于一件事，他们代表最基础的网络技术的使用。在全球的一些角落，有一个公司想要从波兰采购一些塑料配件，同事在一些地方，另一些公司想要在那里建立一个塑料的工厂。这是一个简单的将两者连接起来的例子。

Indicater.com is a good example of a knowledge trader. It is targeted at food service managers throughout the hospitality industry. "We started with the context rather than extracting money from suppliers" explains founder Mike Day. "We offer food service professionals interactive support to increase sales and profits.People don't want anther one-dimensional site full of advertising that doesn't help them to do their job more effectively. It has to be customised, offering real solutions to real problems" The site's features include access to online training and a tariff tracker so restaurants can check prices throughout the sector.

Indicater.com就是一个很好的关于知识贸易的例子。这个网站的目标是贯穿整个餐饮业的食品服务的经理。“我们从内容着手，而不是从供应商获得利润”。这个网站的创始人Mike Day解释说。“我们提供专业的食品服务相互支持来增加销售和利润。人们不想要另一个同样的网站，那些网站上充满了不能让他们工作更高效的广告。我们的网站是定制的，提供现实问题的解决方案”。这个网站的特点包括含有在线的培训和价目表的更新，因此餐馆能够查询到整个地区的价格。