What is the knowledge economy? An analysis of discourse coalitions and policy responses in Denmark, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom

Since its popularization in the early 2000s, the concept of the “knowledge economy” has been a key driver of education policy. Broadly recognized as an economic shift through which knowledge has become the main driver of productivity, the specific interpretation of the idea of a knowledge economy varies both between and within economies. This relates both to the key problems and/or opportunities related to the advent of the knowledge economy, as well as which solutions are deemed relevant. Existing scholarship demonstrates that an important political attraction of the “knowledge economy” is its openness to multiple interpretations, which promotes its role as a “coalition magnet” between key elite actors in advanced economies. However, little is known about how such coalitions have developed over time, how they vary in their makeup between liberal, statist, and coordinated economies, and which policy interpretations actors coalesce around. To map meaning structures, we investigate policy debates in four national contexts by studying discourse coalitions in Denmark, France, Germany, and the UK. Employing discourse network analysis and process tracing, we analyze data from eight quality newspapers over the past 20 years. We trace the evolution of constellations of actors and concepts over time, investigating both periods of apparent institutional stability and critical junctures, namely economic crises following in wake of the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 Covid crisis.