|
on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Economy |
|
Issue of 2025–10–27
seven papers chosen by Laura Nicola-Gavrila, Centrul European de Studii Manageriale în Administrarea Afacerilor |
| By: | Cyril Verluise (QuantumBlack); Gabriele Cristelli (London School of Economics); Kyle Higham (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Gaetan de Rassenfosse (Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | This study introduces in-text patent-to-patent citations—references embedded in the body of patent documents—as a novel data source to trace knowledge flows. Unlike front-page citations, which often reflect legal requirements, in-text citations are more likely to originate from inventors and signal meaningful technological linkages. We show that they exhibit stronger geographic and semantic proximity, greater self-referentiality, and closer alignment with inventor knowledge. Though less frequent than front-page citations, they yield robust results in models of knowledge diffusion. We release a validated dataset and reproducible code to support future research. Our findings offer new opportunities for strategy scholars interested in the microfoundations of innovation, the geography of knowledge flows, and the role of inventors in shaping firms’ knowledge trajectories. |
| Keywords: | citation; patent; knowledge flow; open data; spillover |
| JEL: | O31 O33 R12 C81 D83 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iip:wpaper:30 |
| By: | Damián Tojeiro-Rivero (University Rovira i Virgili); Rosina Moreno (AQR-IREA, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Prior literature has argued that, although both captive knowledge sourcing (CKS) and non-captive knowledge sourcing (NCKS) are effective strategies for enhancing firm innovativeness, the former plays a more defined role in determining the likelihood of a firm achieving product innovations. However, we contend that the focus should not only be on the decision to innovate but, more importantly, on the profitability firms derive from such innovations. Given that knowledge acquired from external sources can provide firms with ideas that differ from their existing competencies, NCKS may be more advantageous, as the resulting innovations are likely to exhibit higher levels of novelty. Additionally, we examine the complementarity or substitutability between CKS and NCKS in driving innovation. Our findings for Spanish firms suggest that NCKS yields greater benefits than CKS. Moreover, adopting both strategies simultaneously does not result in higher benefits; instead, a minimum threshold of NCKS, above the median, is necessary to realize observable gains. This indicates that firms must demonstrate a substantial level of commitment to NCKS to effectively exploit its potential for generating returns from their most novel innovations. |
| Keywords: | Radical Innovation, Captive Knowledge Sourcing; Non-Captive Knowledge Sourcing; Spanish firms; Panel data; Complementarity/Substitutability JEL classification: |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:202503 |
| By: | Nam, Jaejun; Kim, Nayeon |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of knowledge spillovers in shaping economic growth in developing countries, with a focus on their limitations in promoting convergence with advanced economies. Extending Romer (1986) and the North–South model, we construct a theoretical model in which government-funded knowledge accumulation drives long-run growth, while developing countries benefit from costless technology diffusion from advanced economies. Within this framework, we derive steady states for each economy and analyze how policy choices—such as taxation, savings, and technology protection—affect the growth trajectory of both economies through the spillovers. We then test the model’s predictions, setting the United States as the technological frontier. The analysis utilizes fixed-effects regression and incorporates foreign direct investment inflows and imports from the U.S. as proxies for openness to spillovers. Our results suggest that knowledge spillovers alone are insufficient for convergence, requiring substantial domestic investment by developing countries. This highlights the structural challenges these countries face in catching up to advanced economies. Additionally, technology protection ensures the long-term economic dominance of developed countries, but only when paired with significant domestic investment. Finally, we empirically demonstrate a complementary relationship between openness and technological disparity in determining the magnitude of spillovers, lending further support to our findings. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge Spillovers, Romer (1986), North–South Framework, Endogenous Growth Model, Technology Protection |
| JEL: | F43 O33 O41 |
| Date: | 2025–10–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:126362 |
| By: | Jacob Schaal |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a theory-driven automation exposure index based on Moravec's Paradox. Scoring 19, 000 O*NET tasks on performance variance, tacit knowledge, data abundance, and algorithmic gaps reveals that management, STEM, and sciences occupations show the highest exposure. In contrast, maintenance, agriculture, and construction show the lowest. The positive relationship between wages and exposure challenges the notion of skill-biased technological change if AI substitutes for workers. At the same time, tacit knowledge exhibits a positive relationship with wages consistent with seniority-biased technological change. This index identifies fundamental automatability rather than current capabilities, while also validating the AI annotation method pioneered by Eloundou et al. (2024) with a correlation of 0.72. The non-positive relationship with pre-LLM indices suggests a paradigm shift in automation patterns. |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2510.13369 |
| By: | Michela Laura Bergamini; Leo Sleuwaegen; Bart Van Looy |
| Abstract: | Since the introduction of the notion ‘creative class’, artists have been portrayed as contributing to the innovation dynamics of cities and regions. While insights from qualitative studies suggest positive externalities from the arts to the knowledge economy, quantitative analyses so far offer only limited or no support for a systematic positive contribution to the (overall) innovative performance of regions. In this paper, we focus simultaneously on innovations of a technical nature (measured by patents) and of an aesthetic nature (measured by design rights). Relying on data of a large set of European regions (NUTS 2), we examine their joint impact on regional economic growth, and we analyze how different types of human capital – besides scientists and engineers, also artists – are associated with regional innovative performance. Our findings reveal that both types of innovation are relevant for explaining differences in regional growth. In addition, the analysis signals a distinctive contribution both from artists and from scientists and engineers, albeit in different activity realms. While scientists and engineers’ contribution towards regional innovation is very outspoken but confined to technological innovation, the presence of artists in the region is associated with technological and, more pronounced, with aesthetic innovation. Overall, our findings suggest the relevance of adopting a more encompassing view on innovation and creativity when assessing regional growth dynamics. |
| Keywords: | Creative class, artists, design rights, patents, regional innovation, economic growth |
| Date: | 2025–10–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:msiper:774092 |
| By: | Chaurey, Ritam (Johns Hopkins SAIS); Nayyar, Guarav (The World Bank); Sharma, Siddharth (The World Bank); Verhoogen, Eric (Columbia University) |
| Abstract: | Knowledge spillovers among firms are widely viewed as a key driver of agglomeration and growth, but are difficult to estimate cleanly. We randomly allocated an energy-efficient motor – a “servo'” motor – among leather-goods firms in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and tracked adoption, information flows, beliefs about energy savings, and other variables. We use the difference between actual exposure and expected exposure (from simulated randomization draws) to identify the effect of exposure. We find a robust positive effect of exposure to treated neighbors within a small geographic area (500 meters in our baseline specification) on information flows and adoption. A marginal value of public funds (MVPF) calculation taking learning spillovers into account yields a significantly larger value than one considering only treated firms and suggests that adoption subsidies would be a cost-effective policy intervention. |
| Keywords: | knowledge spillovers, social learning, technology adoption, energy efficiency |
| JEL: | O14 R11 L67 L23 O12 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18183 |
| By: | Luisa Alamá-Sabater (Department of Economics and IIDL, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Joan Crespo (Department of Economic Structure, Universidad de Valencia, Spain); Miguel Ángel Márquez (Department of Economics, Universidad de Extremadura, Spain); Emili Tortosa-Ausina (IVIE, Valencia and IIDL and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain) |
| Abstract: | We empirically evaluate how the efficiency of Spanish public universities impacts regional economic performance in Spain during the period 2010–2019. Efficiency is measured using activity analysis methods that attempt to capture reflect how universities perform in their respective missions—namely, teaching, research, and knowledge transfer. We analyse the geography of higher education by examining efficiency at the provincial (NUTS3) and regional (NUTS2) levels, as well as for groups of regions (NUTS1). Our results offer several key insights. First, we find that geography plays a differential role primarily when knowledge transfer activities are considered, while geographical patterns are similar for teaching and research activities. Second, the impact of universities’ efficiency on regional economic activity varies across different outcome measures. While provinces with more efficient public university systems show higher labor productivity and capital intensity levels, there is no significant relationship with per capita income. The spatial analysis indicates that efficiency gains generate indirect and positive spillovers, particularly for capital intensity, suggesting that improvements in university performance can benefit broader regional areas. Additionally, institutional quality, measured through regional government performance indicators, reinforces these effects. Our findings suggest that policies aimed at enhancing university efficiency should prioritise the research mission. Among the three university missions, research has the greatest impact on improving productive processes and is the most effective in fostering regional economic development. |
| Keywords: | bias-corrected efficiency; capital intensity; higher education institutions; regional growth; productivity |
| JEL: | C61 J24 R11 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2025/09 |