Knowledge economics and the demand for higher education

Franciszek Kutrzeba

doi:10.13166/jms/189428

Knowledge economics and the demand for higher education

Abstract

This article suggests that the decreased demand for higher education in Poland is partially caused due to the changes in consumer preferences. The appearance of a cheap and highly accessible form of knowledge offered by the massive open online courses is presumed here to have an effect on the demand for formal higher education. This article proposes an additional perspective to the research on knowledge consumption, especially in the context of different versions of knowledge. A simple supply and demand framework is used. It suggests, that the appearance of a cheaper substitute to knowledge leads to the increase of its consumption. This article also argues that knowledge, in terms of ideas and innovations, is misleadingly called to be non-rival and non-excludable. Overall, the article calls for a broader understanding of the knowledge market, emphasizing the need for higher education institutions to adapt to the evolving landscape of knowledge production and consumption. The rise of imperfect informational capitalism requires us to rethink the importance of knowledge quality to the modern society.