"This Handbook defines how knowledge contributes to social and economic life, and vice versa. It considers the five areas critical to acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the knowledge economy: the nature of the knowledge economy; social, cooperative, cultural, creative, ethical and intellectual capital; knowledge and innovation systems; policy analysis for knowledge-based economies; and knowledge management." "Distinguished by a combination of practical relevance and analytical rigour, this Handbook provides new insights into the basic mechanisms that constitute a knowledge economy and society, and will be invaluable to practitioners and academics in diverse areas of interest, including: knowledge management, innovation management, knowledge policy, social epistemology, and development studies."--BOOK JACKET.