The EAEPE Council has decided to phase out the previous EAEPE Conference Volume Series, and to replace it with a series of more focused volumes around themes and along the theoretical perspective of EAEPE. The first book in the relaunched series has been published in April 2006:

Understanding The Dynamics Of A Knowledge Economy, published in April 2006, 256pp., Hardback ISBN 1845423070, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. £58.50.

Edited by Wilfred Dolfsma, Economist and Philosopher, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Maastricht University, Corresponding Editor, Review of Social Economy and 2005/6 NIAS Fellow, The Netherlands and Luc Soete, Joint Director, United Nations University-Institute for New Technologies (UNU-INTECH) and the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) and Professor of International Economics, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.

The 'knowledge economy' is a concept commonly deemed too ambiguous and elusive to hold any significance in current economic debate. This valuable new book seeks to refute that myth. Presenting an important collection of views, from a number of leading scholars, this innovative volume visibly demonstrates that knowledge and information are a prime resource in driving the dynamics of an economy.

It is argued that in order to understand the knowledge economy, a diverse set of insights and approaches are required, which shed new and striking light on the roots of present day economic dynamics. Using both theoretical and empirical material, this interdisciplinary collection offers a range of macro and micro perspectives. It draws on a variety of scientific backgrounds, and uses and develops a number of different methodologies, some of which may not be familiar to mainstream economics. The approaches adopted by historians, economists, systems theorists, management scholars and geographers which are explored in this book, are central to encouraging a new and practical way forward in reading the dynamics of the knowledge economy.

In offering these key insights, this important volume makes an invaluable contribution to the lively debate surrounding the knowledge economy. An essential read for economists, this book will also find widespread appeal amongst scholars of management, cultural studies and geography.