The New Economy: what the concept owes to the OECD

In the last two decades, concepts have appeared that have influenced and even defined entire science and technology policies in Western countries: high technology, national system of innovation, information economy, knowledge-based economy, and the new economy. In all these policy developments, the OECD, acting as a think tank for its member countries, has been an important promoter of the concepts, turning them into buzzwords. This article looks at the concept of the new economy as the culmination of decades of work on technology and productivity, and explores the crucial role of the OECD in its dissemination and, above all, the role statistics have played in shaping science and innovation policies.