The landscape of technology in 2006 now seems impossibly quaint. Smartphones were on the cusp of something transformative, but not yet ubiquitous. The word “app,” as a distinct product category, had only just started to slip into mainstream use. For economists or statisticians interested in tracking this early moment—when mobile app studios began to emerge, […]
There’s a certain difficulty, almost a stubbornness, in tracing the early days of wind turbine manufacturing—especially when relying on legacy classification systems. ISIC 2825, the “Manufacture of machinery for mining, quarrying and construction,” is a category that seems, at first, curiously removed from the image of sleek wind farms across Northern Europe. Yet in 2005, […]
Comparing the trajectory of thermal and renewable power capacity in 2004 feels a bit like squinting through a dusty window at a landscape in transition. The numbers are there, mostly, but they don’t always clarify as much as one hopes. ISIC 3510—Electric power generation, transmission and distribution—holds both stories, the legacy of coal-fired giants and […]
When tracing the emergence of remote health monitoring technologies in 2003, it becomes clear that the very language of the sector was still in flux. The terminology we use today—digital health, telemonitoring, connected devices—simply didn’t have widespread currency yet. ISIC 8621, the code for general medical practice activities, is the best statistical foothold available, but […]
The early 2000s mark a period of sometimes breathless commentary about India’s place in the global software industry. “Offshoring” had become a watchword, an emblem of shifting economic gravity, and an object of anxiety and ambition in equal measure. But for those hoping to measure the actual contours of the boom, the statistics present as […]
If there’s a throughline in the story of ecommerce, it is how rapidly the landscape outpaced the statistical categories meant to capture it. In 2002, “online marketplace” was a concept familiar only to a small segment of the public, but to those tracking economic activity, the signs were there—hidden, perhaps, but real. ISIC 6311, “Data […]
Hydropower in Norway is sometimes spoken of as both legacy and future—a backbone for national energy security and, increasingly, an anchor in the country’s renewable portfolio. For those wishing to measure or map the sector’s shape in 2002, ISIC 3510—electric power generation, transmission, and distribution—serves as the statistical portal. As with most industrial codes, the […]
Tracing the evolution of genetic research at the start of the 21st century is a task that sometimes feels as intricate as the science itself. In 2001, much of the excitement around the completion of the Human Genome Project was matched by uncertainty over how genetic engineering would unfold commercially and institutionally. For those looking […]
Looking back at Silicon Valley in 2001, it’s hard to avoid a sense of contradiction. The dot-com bubble had burst, but the ecosystem itself was, if anything, accelerating. While many high-profile failures grabbed headlines, an undercurrent of new startups persisted—some on borrowed time, others already laying the groundwork for the internet’s next phase. For economists […]
Tracking the first major expansion of digital advertising agencies is an exercise in both clarity and frustration. The year 2000 stands out as a curious milestone—far enough into the internet era that “online advertising” had become a recognizable industry, but still early enough that definitions were fluid, and the numbers rarely aligned as one might […]
The turn of the millennium was an inflection point for renewable energy—geothermal in particular. Assessing the scale and spread of geothermal expansion around 2000, though, is not just a question of output totals or new plant announcements. The underlying data, drawn from ISIC 3510—electric power generation, transmission, and distribution—offers both opportunity and complication. Within this […]
By the year 2000, the word “biotechnology” had started to acquire a new weight in economic and policy circles. The Human Genome Project was cresting toward its completion, and suddenly there was a sense—sometimes anxious, sometimes breathless—that the future would be written in genes and proteins as much as in silicon. For anyone trying to […]
If you asked most economists or policymakers at the end of the 1990s what would transform national economies next, the conversation would have circled inevitably to telecommunications. Deregulation—so often debated, often contentious—had swept through much of Europe, Asia, and the Americas by 1999, upending the old model of state-run monopolies. For those tasked with measuring […]
In 1999, the idea of buying books, shoes, or even groceries online still struck many as either wildly futuristic or quietly risky. Yet the undercurrent of commercial innovation was unmistakable. For economists or statisticians hoping to track the expansion of early ecommerce platforms, the search starts with an imperfect tool: ISIC 6201—computer programming activities. In […]
Estimating the impact of software piracy at the close of the 1990s is a task that—despite the best intentions—often resists straightforward measurement. In 1998, piracy was front-page news in some places, but mostly an ambient risk, a silent factor lurking beneath the official numbers. For analysts seeking to make sense of its effects, ISIC 6201—computer […]
The 2023 updates to Japan’s Act on Promotion of Resource Recycling marked, in many respects, a turning point in the country’s approach to tracking e-waste. While the original 2020 legislation already laid down a framework for promoting circularity in materials use, the latest revisions take a more assertive stance on traceability, particularly when it comes […]