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The Historical Origins of 'Open Science’: An Essay on Patronage, Reputation and Common Agency Contracting in the Scientific Revolution

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  • Paul David

    (Knowledge Networks and Institutions for Innovation Program, Stanford University)

Abstract

This essay examines the economics of patronage and its influence upon key elements in the ethos and organizational structure of publicly funded open science. The emergence during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries of the idea and practice of “open science" was a distinctive organizational aspect of the Scientific Revolution. It represented a new set of norms, incentives, and organizational structures that reinforced scientific researchers' commitments to rapid disclosure of new knowledge. The rise of “cooperative rivalries” in the revelation of new knowledge, is seen as a functional response to heightened asymmetric information problems posed for the Renaissance system of court-patronage of the arts and sciences. In late Renaissance Europe, the feudal legacy of fragmented political authority had resulted in relations between noble patrons and their savant-clients that resembled the situation modern economists describe as "common agency contracting in substitutes"—competition among incompletely informed principals for the dedicated services of multiple agents.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul David, 2007. "The Historical Origins of 'Open Science’: An Essay on Patronage, Reputation and Common Agency Contracting in the Scientific Revolution," Discussion Papers 06-038, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:sip:dpaper:06-038
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    1. Web 2.0, the possum, the public and the private
      by Nicholas Gruen in Club Troppo on 2010-08-20 09:23:41

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    Cited by:

    1. Teresa Gomez-Diaz & Tomas Recio, 2020. "A policy and legal Open Science framework: a proposal," Working Papers hal-02962399, HAL.
    2. Dominique Foray, 2012. "The Fragility of Experiential Knowledge," Chapters, in: Richard Arena & Agnès Festré & Nathalie Lazaric (ed.), Handbook of Knowledge and Economics, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Gans, Joshua S. & Murray, Fiona E. & Stern, Scott, 2017. "Contracting over the disclosure of scientific knowledge: Intellectual property and academic publication," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 820-835.
    4. Marvin Goodfriend & John McDermott, 2021. "The American System of economic growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 31-75, March.
    5. Joshua S. Gans & Fiona Murray, 2014. "Credit History: The Changing Nature of Scientific Credit," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 107-131, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Nicholas Gruen, 2009. "Beyond Central Planning: Innovation in Government in the 21st Century," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(1), pages 96-103, March.
    7. Tom Dedeurwaerdere & Paolo Melindi-Ghidi & Willem Sas, 2015. "Voluntary provision of public knowledge goods: group-based social preferences and coalition formation," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven 526021, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    8. Antonello Cammarano & Vincenzo Varriale & Francesca Michelino & Mauro Caputo, 2022. "Open and Crowd-Based Platforms: Impact on Organizational and Market Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-26, February.
    9. S. Ryan Johansson, 2010. "Medics, Monarchs and Mortality, 1600-1800: Origins of the Knowledge-Driven Health Transition in Europe," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _085, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Pierre Azoulay & Jeffrey L. Furman & Joshua L. Krieger & Fiona E. Murray, 2012. "Retractions," NBER Working Papers 18499, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Powell, Walter W. & Giannella, Eric, 2010. "Collective Invention and Inventor Networks," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 575-605, Elsevier.
    12. Joshua Gans & Fiona Murray, 2014. "Markets for Scientific Attribution," NBER Working Papers 20677, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Dittmar, Jeremiah & Seabold, Skipper, 2019. "New media and competition: printing and Europe's transformation after Gutenberg," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102614, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Lee Lane & W. Montgomery, 2014. "An institutional critique of new climate scenarios," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 122(3), pages 447-458, February.
    15. Gold, E. Richard, 2021. "The fall of the innovation empire and its possible rise through open science," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(5).
    16. S. Ryan Johansson, 2010. "Medics, Monarchs and Mortality, 1600-1800: Origins of the Knowledge-Driven Health Transition in Europe," Economics Series Working Papers Number85, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    17. Marcel Knöchelmann, 2019. "Open Science in the Humanities, or: Open Humanities?," Publications, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-17, November.
    18. Antonelli, Cristiano & David, Paul, 2015. "Knowledge, Institutions and Economic Policy: An Introduction," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201541, University of Turin.
    19. Joel Mokyr, 2016. "Institutions and the Origins of the Great Enrichment," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 44(2), pages 243-259, June.
    20. Fiona Murray, 2013. "Evaluating the Role of Science Philanthropy in American Research Universities," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(1), pages 23-60.
    21. Ryan Safner, 2021. "“Public Good” or “Good for the Public?” Political Entrepreneurship and the Public Funding of Scientific Research," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 36(Spring 20), pages 17-44.
    22. McCloskey, Deirdre Nansen, 2009. "The Inheritance of Gregory Clark," MPRA Paper 21326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Jeremiah Dittmar & Skipper Seabold, 2019. "New media and competition: printing and Europe's transformation after Gutenberg," CEP Discussion Papers dp1600, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    24. Seror, Avner, 2018. "A theory on the evolution of religious norms and economic prohibition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 416-427.
    25. Irwin Feller, 2013. "Peer review and expert panels as techniques for evaluating the quality of academic research," Chapters, in: Albert N. Link & Nicholas S. Vonortas (ed.), Handbook on the Theory and Practice of Program Evaluation, chapter 5, pages 115-142, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    open science; patronage; common agency contracting; scientific revolution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B15 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary

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