“SDG 4 and SDG 8 in the knowledge economy: A meta-analysis in the context of post-COVID-19 recovery”

Almost all human activity spheres, from the health care system to the education sys- tem, were unprepared for the pandemic. This, in turn, has slowed down the progress in achieving sustainable development goals. The Sustainable Development Goals 4 “Quality Education” and 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth” were particularly vul-nerable. In addition, the widespread concern was caused in the context of the transition to a “knowledge-based economy”. This paper analyzes the readiness of the scientific community to provide preconditions for the acceleration of these SDGs achievements. To do this, a meta-analysis of the academic literature on SDG 4, SDG 8, and the knowl-edge-based economy during 2015–2021 was conducted. Several special methods and instruments were used, including Scopus, WoS, VosViewer, Publish or Perish, Google Trends, and Google Books Ngram Viewer. The results show the inability of the modern academic community to provide a theoretical and empirical framework for a successful transition to a knowledge-based economy, taking into account the need to achieve sustainability. This is partly due to the relative subject novelty and the lack of academic attention. The challenges posed by the pandemic (lockdowns, unemployment, closing of educational institutions, financial flows reorientation, etc.) together with potential threats (new pandemic, climate change, population displacement, armed conflicts, etc.) necessitate a radical intensification of academic activity in economics to achieve SDGs. result, knowledge and its applied aspects play a key role in economic development. From 70% to 85% of the GDP growth in developed countries is provided by using and implementing new knowledge in education, production technology, etc. (Jones, 2016). One of the elements ensuring a successful transition to the knowl-edge-based economy is the achievement of sustainability. Several of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals can be characterized as the accelerator goals. Their implementation is the key to the successful reaching of others. SDG 4 “Quality Education” and SDG 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth” are necessary for other goals and crucial in forming the knowledge-based economy, which should become a new paradigm of human development and the fundamental of post-pandemic recovery.


INTRODUCTION
The economic system transformation into the so-called knowledge-based economy began in one line with the transition to the information age. As a result, knowledge and its applied aspects play a key role in economic development. From 70% to 85% of the GDP growth in developed countries is provided by using and implementing new knowledge in education, production technology, etc. (Jones, 2016).
One of the elements ensuring a successful transition to the knowledge-based economy is the achievement of sustainability.
Several of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals can be characterized as the accelerator goals. Their implementation is the key to the successful reaching of others. SDG 4 "Quality Education" and SDG 8 "Decent Work and Economic Growth" are necessary for other goals and crucial in forming the knowledge-based economy, which should become a new paradigm of human development and the fundamental of post-pandemic recovery.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The paradigm step in shaping the vectors of human development towards sustainability is the adoption of 17 SDGs (United Nations) in 2015. These goals require significant efforts, both financial and organizational, involving all stakeholders at various levels (business, government, society) to ensure progress. The total value of achieving the Goals by 2030 was 6.3 trillion USD (OECD, 2017) annually. However, under the influence of COVID-19, investment in SDGs decreased by a third (UNCTAD, 2021).
The pandemic currently threatens the achievements of SDG 4 and SDG 8. Its beginning caused a powerful economic shock, the scale of which is difficult to overestimate. According to the UN, the world economy is experiencing the worst crisis since the Great Depression. It is accompanied by the loss of hundreds of millions of jobs, and the economic sectors decline, such as tourism and air transport (UN, 2021a).
For example, only in April 2020, the United States lost more than 20 million workplaces (Trading Economics, 2021).
In total, according to the UN, the global loss of workplaces due to the pandemic amounted to 255 million. Moreover, COVID-19 took about 20 years of the education system's achievements (UN, 2021b).
According to the Bank of England, the economic crisis in Great Britain was the worst since 1706. The country's GDP lost about 20% in the second quarter (Statista, 2021a). US GDP fell by 30% over the same period (Statista, 2021b).
In economic terms, the pandemic has brought the world back for several years in the past. Furthermore, despite the rapid economic recovery after the start of vaccination campaigns, the problem is still unresolved. Instead, they move to a new level in the form of sharp increases in inflation (inflation rates are many times higher than Central Bank targets in the USA, Eurozone, UK), as well as problems in logistics chains and shortages of goods, including semiconductors, which in turn slows down economic recovery.
However, the shock to the economic system was much less than to the education system, which was unprepared to abandon traditional learning mechanisms. As a result of school closures, 90% of students did not attend school. Distance learning remained inaccessible to up to 500 million students at all levels (UN, 2021c). As a result, the UN described the pandemic effects on the education system as a "catastrophe of generations" (UN, 2021b).
Despite the severe pandemic consequences for the world economic system, they will not be able to stop the evolutionary processes of development. This refers to the transition of economic systems to the "knowledge-based economy". The knowledge-based economy is such an organization of the economy, in which most of the gross domestic product is provided by the production, processing, storage, and dissemination of information and knowledge.
SDGs are benchmarks for the transition to a knowledge economy and contribute to the development of human capital and industrial technology through innovation, which together contributes to sustainable economic growth.
The deployment of the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated intensified progress in achieving the SDGs, especially given the existing financial needs. One of the biggest financial gaps, as well as the scale of the recession, can be called gaps in SDG 4 and SDG 8. Back in 2019 at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF, 2019) progress in SDG 4 was described as battling a "global learning crisis", progress on SDG 8 is "slow and uneven".
To restore the pre-pandemic level of achievement of the SDGs 4 targets, it is necessary to overcome the deficit of funding by 2030. For low-income countries and low-middle-income countries, this deficit is 148 billion USD. The additional costs of closing schools through COVID-19 could increase this deficit by almost a third, or 30-45 billion USD for a year. However, immediate funding for programs to restore students' lost knowledge and skills, as well as their return to school, could reduce additional costs by at least 75% (Global Education Monitoring Report Team, 2020).
For SDG 8, the UN estimates that incomes of informal employment and migrant workers have fallen by 60% globally in the first month of the crisis, and by 81% in some regions (UN, 2020).
In addition, in the light of pandemic challenges, the transition to sustainable development seems difficult and requires states and regulators to prioritize goals and form the basis for the knowledge economy and its post-pandemic recovery.
At the same time, special attention of regulators should be paid to those goals, the progress of which can lead to an increase in progress for other goals or cumulative for all 17. Thus, ILO (2019) argues in favor of multiplying progress from SDG 8 to SDGs 9, 7, 1, 5, and 16 as a basis for enhancing a society's knowledge base through learning and experience.
Academic research on the relationship between the goals of sustainable development is quite small. However, Vladimirova and Le Blanc (2015) based on content analysis of 40 sample reports from the organization of the UN system postulated the closest and most complex comprehensive relationship between SDG 4 and SDG 8. Signs of such influence of SDG 4 on SDG 8 were found in 21 reports out of 40 both at the level of challenges and prospects for joint achievement of these goals and at the level of political discussions. Modeling of interaction between SDGs at the target level was conducted by Lawrence et al. (2020) who showed that SDG 4 is primary to ensure progress in 7 SDGs (3, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17,  Thus, in addition to the analysis of exemplary UN reports conducted by Vladimirova and Le Blanc (2015) and selected works of scientists on the relationship between the CSW system and their targets for all 17 goals, studies on CSW 4 and 8 are insufficiently presented in academic circles. The study of the scientific landscape in relation to these goals, their synergetic effects in the light of pandemic challenges, and prospects for the formation of the knowledge economy is an important task that can be solved based on the tools of meta-analysis.
This paper aims to study the current academic landscape on the role and origin of the transferring impact of SDG 4 "Quality Education" on SDG 8 "Decent Work and Economic Growth", their role in forming the knowledge-based economy as a basis for post-pandemic recovery and assessing the readiness of academia to support the implementation and achievements of SDG 4 and 8.

METHODOLOGY
This paper uses several specific meta-analysis instruments, including inbuilt Scopus and Web of Science instruments and Publish or Perish soft-ware version 8.1.3625, VosViewer version 1.6.16, Google Trends, and Google Books Ngram Viewer.
The data period starts from 2015 when the New York Summit and adoption of 17 SDGs took place. Description of each method, specific of their use for the current study, and periods available per each instrument are provided in Table 1. Each search and request within the meta-analysis of above-mentioned instruments was formed using logic operator AND as of November 25, 2021, for 2015-2021, besides Google Books Ngram Viewer. These requests were conducted for 1950-2021 when the first studies in the field of knowledge economy appeared and concerned main SDGs in the sphere of knowledge sharing with COVID-19 context:

SDG 4 and SDG 8 analysis based on in-built Scopus, Web of Science instruments, and Publish or Perish
Search queries for SDG 4, SDG 4 and knowledge economy, SDG 4 and COVID-19, SDG 8, SDG 8 and knowledge economy for Scopus and WoS databases were pre-filtered exclusively by the paper parameter, period (2015-2021), and the broadest categories of WoS (including economics) and subject areas in Scopus.
In particular, the syntax of the search query created by the in-built Scopus instruments is as follows:    Characterizing the subject areas of the studied terms (Figures 1 and 2), it should be mentioned that there is a specific incompatibility of WoS categories and Scopus subject areas, which are narrower.

SDG 4 and SDG 8 analysis based on VosViewer
Cluster analysis by keywords and authorship of publications through VOS Viewer instruments was made by aggregating all publications lists on SDG 4 and SDG 8 by all tools used (Table 5).    The mentioned subject on the footnote is marked by the program in yellow color, which confirms the novelty of the investigation.
The aggregate work analysis for both purposes in terms of the authors is presented on bibliometric maps (Figures 5 and 6).   The use of bibliometric analysis instruments allowed identifying the most relevant works by the search terms SDG 4; SDG 4 and knowledge economy; SDG 4 and COVID-19; SDG 8; SDG 8 and knowledge economy; SDG 8 and COVID-19 SDG 4 and SDG 8. Relevance was largely due to the importance of the scientific work and scientific cluster presented in Figures 5 and 6, as well as the article citations (Tables A1 and A2 of Appendix A).
Based on these publications, the paper further presents their key theses.  Chabbott and Sinclair (2020), analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on education, concluded that the education system is not ready for existing challenges and new forms of learning, including home learning. The future of SDG 4 directly depends on the ability of education systems to evolve and adapt. Regarding potential threats in the future, a new global pandemic, mass population displacement caused by climate change, armed conflicts, and natural disasters were highlighted.  have shown that trade support contributes to sustainable economic growth in de-veloping countries, but it is effective and important only for countries with low-and below-average income levels. At the same time, the positive and significant effect in countries with above-average incomes level depends on their political stability.
Ribeiro-Duthie (2020) assessed the potential social benefits in the context of sustainability by the Fair-Trade model. It was concluded that multilateral trade agreements and the development of agricultural policies are feasible. The key negative factors were lockdown, unemployment, the closure of facilities, the deflection of attention and resources to non-pandemic issues, and the expected reduction in supporting the development.

SDG 4 and SDG 8 analysis based on Google Trends and Google Books Ngram
Within Google Books and Google Trends resources, public Google tools have been used to analyze the popularity of search terms among Internet users.
During the analysis of Google Trends, the search was performed in a comparative mode according to terms SDG 4, SDG 8, Knowledge economy. The term "СOVID-19" is characterized by inquiries statistics, limited to a period of 2 years. It is incomparable with the queries on dynamics for SDG 4, SDG 8, Knowledge economy; the results are presented in Figure 7.
The analysis of the popularity of Internet users' requests in 2015-2021 shows the predominance of the knowledge-based economy over the topic of SDGs 4 and 8, despite the growing interest in studying these global landmarks in human development.
It can be explained by the fact that the knowledge-based economy began to be discussed in a scientific environment in the 50s of the 20th century. The topic of sustainable development started to be popular in the late 80s of the 20th century, and the SDG replaced the Millennium Development Goals only in 2015. It is also worth noting that SDG 4 is more actively sought than SDG 8.
The geographical context of the study of Internet users' interest in search queries SDG 4, SDG 8, Knowledge economy by countries of the world (Figure 8) also shows in favor of the prevalence of knowledge-based economy, rather than sustainability topic. Only in 3 developing countries (Bangladesh, Ghana, and Indonesia), users are more interested in the subject of SDGs, in particular SDG 4 (100, 85, and 47% of all inquiries for all terms within the country).
At the same time, it cannot be said that the subject of the knowledge-based economy dominates only in developed countries as the share of search queries for it ranges from 40% in Germany to 78% in Pakistan.
Source: Compiled by authors via Google trends.    It is noteworthy that the peak value of references frequency of the "knowledge economy" is observed in the context of pairwise comparisons with SDG 4 and SDG 8 in 2008. A significant upward trend in its study has been observed since 1995.
The frequencies asynchrony of mentioning the subject of the knowledge-based economy and COVID-19 illustrates that COVID-19 in the Google Books sources has a short period of presentation. It comprises the period of the last two years ( Figure 12).

CONCLUSIONS
The pandemic is an unexpected challenge not only to the global health system but also to the global economy and education system. As a result, the progress made on several Sustainable Development Goals has been partially lost, and the achievement of sustainability by 2030 is now in great question.
This paper analyzes the readiness of the scientific community to provide preconditions for the progressive acceleration in achieving the SDG 8 "Decent Work and Economic Growth" based on the development of the SDG 4 "Quality Education", because in the modern model of "knowledge-based economy" education is the basis of growth.
With this aim, a meta-analysis of the scientific literature on SDG 4, SDG 8, and the knowledge-based economy for 2015-2021 was conducted. The paper used several special methods and tools, including Scopus and WoS, VosViewer, Publish or Perish, Google Trends, Google Books Ngram Viewer, and Google Public Data Explorer.
The analysis results showed that SDGs 4 and 8 in the context of the knowledge economy development is presented rather narrowly in the academic literature. It is evidenced by the small number of publications, low citation rates, and scientific significance. This is partly because SDGs 4 and 8 in the context of the knowledge economy have been studied actively only in the last two years. In contrast, the study of SDGs 4 and 8, in general, has been going on for more than six years. As for the knowledge-based economy in general, its study began in the 50s of the twentieth century.  The general conclusion is the unwillingness of the modern academic environment to provide a theoretical and empirical basis for a successful transition to a knowledge-based economy, considering the need to achieve sustainability. The challenges posed by the pandemic (lockdowns, unemployment, closures of educational institutions, change financial flows direction, etc.), as well as potential threats (new pandemic, climate change, population displacement, armed conflict, etc.), necessitate the need to radically intensify the scientists' efforts in the field of the knowledge-based economy.