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Knowledge and its Economic Characteristics - A Conceptual Clarification

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Author Info

  • Ulrich Witt

    () (Max Planck Institute of Economics Jena, Evolutionary Economics Unit)

  • Tom Broekel

    () (Max Planck Institute of Economics Jena, Evolutionary Economics Unit)

  • Thomas Brenner

    () (Max Planck Institute of Economics Jena, Evolutionary Economics Unit)

Abstract

This paper discusses several features of knowledge that are often considered crucial for characterizing the economic significance of knowledge: whether it is overtly accessible or tacit, whether it can be or is encoded or not, and whether it has public or private good character. It is argued that all these features depend similarly on the state of the knowledge technology, i.e. on how knowledge can be acquired, stored, used, and communicated. The different characteristics and the relationships between them are shown to correspond to different specifications of the technology, specifications that are not always made explicit in the literature.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Planck-Institute of Economics in its series Jena Economic Research Papers with number 2007-013.

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Date of creation: 07 May 2007
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Handle: RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-013

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Keywords: knowledge; knowledge technology; tacitness; ouvertness; public goods; intellectual property rights;

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References

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  1. Dudley, L., 1996. "Communication and Economic Growth," Cahiers de recherche 9620, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
  2. Antonelli, Cristiano, 2001. "The Microeconomics of Technological Systems," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199245536, September.
  3. Sandler, Todd M, 1975. "Pareto Optimality, Pure Public Goods, Impure Public Goods and Multiregional Spillovers," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 22(1), pages 25-38, February.
  4. Cowan, Robin & Foray, Dominique, 1997. "The Economics of Codification and the Diffusion of Knowledge," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 595-622, September.
  5. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
  6. Salvatore Torrisi & Rosa Grimaldi, 2001. "Codified-Tacit and General-Specific Knowledge in the division of labour among firms. A study of the Software Industry," LIUC Papers in Economics 85, Cattaneo University (LIUC).
  7. Beise, Marian & Stahl, Harald, 1999. "Public research and industrial innovations in Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 397-422, April.
  8. Nelson, Richard R, 1982. "The Role of Knowledge in R&D Efficiency," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 97(3), pages 453-70, August.
  9. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-96, September.
  10. Stefano Brusoni & Orietta Marsili & Ammon Salter, 2005. "The role of codified sources of knowledge in innovation: Empirical evidence from Dutch manufacturing," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 211-231, January.
  11. Lazaric, Nathalie & Mangolte, Pierre-Andre & Massue, Marie-Laure, 2003. "Articulation and codification of collective know-how in the steel industry: evidence from blast furnace control in France," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1829-1847, December.
  12. Lissoni, Francesco, 2001. "Knowledge codification and the geography of innovation: the case of Brescia mechanical cluster," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1479-1500, December.
  13. Richard N. Langlois, 2000. "Knowledge, Consumption, and Endogenous Growth," Working papers 2000-02, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
  14. Joanne Roberts, 2001. "The Drive to Codify: Implications for the Knowledge-based Economy," Prometheus, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 99-116.
  15. Nonaka, Ikujiro & Toyama, Ryoko & Nagata, Akiya, 2000. "A Firm as a Knowledge-Creating Entity: A New Perspective on the Theory of the Firm," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, March.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Ulrich Witt & Christian Zellner, 2009. "How firm organizations adapt to secure a sustained knowledge transfer," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 18(7), pages 647-661.
  2. Enachi Mihaela, 2009. "The Knowledge – As Production Factor," Studies and Scientific Researches - Economic Edition, University "Vasile Alecsandri" of Bacau, Faculty of Economic Sciences, issue 14.

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