Abstract
This paper presents the results of our empirical research in measuring the size and structure of the U.S. information economy in 1992 and 1997, and in assessing the growth experienced by different industries and sectors since Porat’s research on the U.S. information economy in 1967. The study indicates that the share of the information economy in total GNP grew from about 46 percent in 1967 to about 56 percent in 1992, and to 63 percent in 1997. The study further indicates that during this time period the share of service sector information activities in total GNP increased substantially, while the shares of non-service sectors declined correspondingly. The industries displaying the highest growth rates include business services, and medical and educational services. The paper also provides a critical assessment of Porat’s methodology and suggests specific improvements that may be made to obtain a more plausible measure of the size and structure of the information economy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Apte, Uday M. and Mason, R. O., 1995, “Global Disaggregation of Information-Intensive Services”, Management Science 41(7), 1250–1262.
Apte, Uday M. and Nath, Hiranya K., 1999, “Service Sector in Today’s Information Economy”, Proceedings of the Service Operations Management Association, 106–111.
Carter, Anne P., 1989, “Input-Output Recipes in an Information Economy”, Economic Systems Research 1(1), 27–43.
Engelbrecht, H.-J., 1997, “A comparison and critical assessment of Porat and Rubin’s information economy and Wallis and North’s transaction sector”, Information Economics and Policy 9, 271–290.
Huber, M. T. and Rubin, M. R., 1986, The Knowledge Industry in the United States: 1960–1980 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ).
Lawson, A. M., Bersani, K. S., Fahim-Nader, M. and Guo, J., 2002, “Benchmark Input-Output Accounts of the United States, 1997”, Survey of Current Business, 19–109.
Machlup, F., 1962, The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ).
Machlup, F., 1980, Knowledge: Its Creation, Distribution and Economic Significance, Volume 1: Knowledge and Knowledge Production (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ).
Martin, W. J., 1988, The Information Society (Aslib, London).
Miles, I., 1990, Mapping and measuring the information economy, Library and Information Research Report 77 (British Library Board).
OECD, 1981, Information Activities, Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies: Impact on Employment, Growth and Trade, volumes I and II (Paris).
OECD, 1986, Trends in The Information Economy (Paris).
Porat, M. U. and Rubin, M. R., 1977, The Information Economy (9 volumes), Office of Telecommunications Special Publication 77-12 (US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC).
Rabeau, Y., 1990, The information economy in Canada: An ‘input-output’ approach (Department of Communications of Canada, Laval).
Rubin, M. R. and Taylor, E., 1981, “The U.S. information sector and GNP: An input-output study”. Information Processing and Management 17(4), 163–194.
U.S. Census Bureau, 1997 Economic Census: Summary Statistics for United States (1997 NAICS Basis) and 1997 Economic Census: Information, United States, http://www.census.gov.
U.S. Department of Commerce: Bureau of Economic Analysis, 1997, “Benchmark Input-Output Accounts for the U.S. Economy, 1992; Detailed Use Table”. Diskette.
U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994–1995, Occupational Outlook Handbook (U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC).
U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment in Manufacturing, 1992 (U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC).
U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment in Mining, Construction, Finance, and Services, 1993 (U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC).
U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics, 1998, http://www.bls.gov.
Wellenius, B., 1988, “Foreword: Concepts and issues on information sector measurement” in: Jussawalla, M., Lamberton, D., and Karunaratne, N. (eds.), The Cost of Thinking: Information Economies of Ten Pacific Countries (Ablex, Norwood, NJ).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Apte, U.M., Nath, H.K. (2007). Size, Structure and Growth of the U.S. Information Economy. In: Apte, U., Karmarkar, U. (eds) Managing in the Information Economy. Annals of Information Systems, vol 1. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36892-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36892-4_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-34214-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-36892-4
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)