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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)

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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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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Planck-Institute of Economics, Thueringer Universitaets- und Landesbibliothek in its series Jena Economic Research Papers in Economics 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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Related research
Keywords: knowledge; knowledge technology; tacitness; ouvertness; public goods; intellectual property rights;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search, Learning, and Information
O31 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
O34 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Intellectual Property Rights

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. 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). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Beise, Marian & Stahl, Harald, 1999. "Public research and industrial innovations in Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 397-422, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Dudley, Leonard, 1999. "Communications and economic growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 595-619, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Richard N. Langlois, 2000. "Knowledge, Consumption, and Endogenous Growth," Working papers 2000-02, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  13. 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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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. U. Witt & C. Zellner, 2007. "How Firm Organizations Adapt to Secure a Sustained Knowledge Transfer," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2007-19, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group.
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