【单选题】

How Important Is Knowledge Knowledge Makes theDifference between Poverty and WealthForty years ago, Ghana and the Republic of Korea had about the same income per capit

A、By 1990, Korea’’s income was six times higher than Ghana’’s. While part of the difference is due to more investment and more workers, half of the difference is attributed to Korea’’s greater success in organizing and using knowledge.’’Knowledge Makes theDifference between Sickness and HealthKnowledge doesn’’t only mean higher economic growth and higher incomes. It can also mean a better quality of life, such as a cleaner environment and better health. In recent decades, infant mortality rates have declined sharply for people in all income groups.Even very poor families suffer fewer infant deaths today than equally poor families suffered ten years ago. Reason: the advance of knowledge has made possible new drugs and vaccines, better sanitation practices, and more effective public health campaigns.What Kind of KnowledgeOur report focuses on two types of knowledge that are especially important to development.First, technical knowledge or simply know-how.Examples are nutrition and birth control, engineering and accounting. Poor countries and poor people have less know-how than others, and these knowledge gaps make it harder for people to escape poverty.Second, knowledge about attributes or characteristics, such as the purity of milk, the diligence of a worker, the solvency (偿付能力) of a firm, and the security of a bank. When this information is lacking, markets function badly —or fail. We call the difficulties arising from lack of this type of knowledge information problems. Information problems are often worse in developing countries and they especially hurt the poor.Knowledge Gaps and Information Problems in the Green RevolutionThe Green Revolution illustrates how dealing with both types of problems can improve people’’s lives.The first steps in the Green Revolution involved narrowing knowledge gaps — research to develop new seed and techniques, and teach the new techniques to farmers. But the potential of the Green Revolution could not be dug up unless poor farmers obtained loans to buy new seeds and fertilizer.As we will see, credit for the poor is a classic information problem.Lack of credit and other information problems turned out to be as important and difficult as the original agricultural research. One study in India found that for a typical family with a small parcel of land, the loss of potential income over five years from slow adoption and inefficient use of high-yielding varieties was nearly four times its annual income before the introduction of the new seeds. As these problems were solved, through research, agricultural extension services and later through micro credit, the Green Revolution indeed helped the poor. Incomes of small farmers almost doubled and the incomes of landless laborers — the poorest of the poor — more than doubleD、The two types of problem often overlap and interact, as in the case of the Green Revolution.To narrow knowledge gaps — both between and within countries — it is necessary to know how knowledge can be acquired, how it can be absorbed, and how it can be communicateD、Acquiring KnowledgeMost new knowledge is being created in richer countries, where spending on research and development is the highest. Fortunately, developing countries don’’t need to re-invent the light bulb, or the computer, or the vaccine for measles. In many cases, tapping global knowledge will be quickest and easiest way to narrow knowledge gaps.How Foreign direct investment, trade, and — in an era of strengthened intellectual property rights — licensing are all important mechanisms for acquiring knowledge from abroaD、And countries should not neglect the knowledge in their own backyard, such as traditional knowledge about ecosystems and medicinal plants.China,Brazil