Human capital, knowledge and know-how: basic concepts

Summary form only as given. Conventional economic analyses, whether integrationist or reductionist, whether inspired by Keynesian, neo-classic or Marxist theory, are all based on several dogmas. To varying degrees, these `revealed truths´ include the dogma of general equilibrium, the dogma of reversible processes, the dogma of conservative economics, the existence of work as production factor measured in hours etc. The implementation of these dogmas is frequently out of phase with reality. It is thus very difficult to introduce technology, technological innovation and technical progress correctly into all the theoretical constructions derived from the application of these principles. The same applies to the consideration of pollution and the depletion of natural resources. These difficult problems, which bedevil the definition of a sustainable development, find no satisfactory answer in these theoretical considerations. The consideration of knowledge as a production factor helps to resolve these difficulties