TY - JOUR
T1 - On optimal regimes of knowledge exchange
T2 - a model of recombinant growth and firm networks
AU - Savin, Ivan
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF Grant Number 19-18-00262) is gratefully acknowledged. I would also like to thank Robin Cowan, Elizaveta Zasukhina and Théo Konc for many constructive comments on earlier drafts of the paper. This work has benefited from presentations at workshops in Karlsruhe, Strasbourg, Maastricht, Yekaterinburg as well as from ISS congress in Seoul. All remaining shortcomings are my responsibility.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply.
PY - 2021/7/1
Y1 - 2021/7/1
N2 - The literature has documented two patterns of knowledge exchange: free sharing of knowledge and barter exchange. The former has been coined as collective invention, while the latter is observed in the form of R&D alliance. This study, for the first time, compares these two modes of cooperation in creating and diffusing new knowledge. Doing so, we take seriously the network character of knowledge and the skewed distribution of innovation size by proposing a novel model. In this model, knowledge is represented by distinct letters and words constructed thereof and accumulated by agents over time. Discovering new words agents recombine available knowledge pieces not randomly but following certain ideas, semi-definite structures on what words can be further constructed. We proceed by allocating agents in a network and allowing them to cooperate over direct ties either in a regime of collective invention or bilateral R&D alliances. We find networks with skewed degree distribution as most productive under R&D alliances and perfect IPR since they best concentrate scarce resources in discovering different knowledge combinations. In contrast, under collective invention and imperfect IPR, clustered networks better diffuse valuable ideas and knowledge resulting in the overall superior performance. Furthermore, under imperfect IPR, collective invention raises the inequality in payoffs among agents in networks with skewed degree distribution but reduces it for clustered topologies. The latter brings a novel explanation on why industries in the past have experienced a shift in the dominant pattern of knowledge exchange.
AB - The literature has documented two patterns of knowledge exchange: free sharing of knowledge and barter exchange. The former has been coined as collective invention, while the latter is observed in the form of R&D alliance. This study, for the first time, compares these two modes of cooperation in creating and diffusing new knowledge. Doing so, we take seriously the network character of knowledge and the skewed distribution of innovation size by proposing a novel model. In this model, knowledge is represented by distinct letters and words constructed thereof and accumulated by agents over time. Discovering new words agents recombine available knowledge pieces not randomly but following certain ideas, semi-definite structures on what words can be further constructed. We proceed by allocating agents in a network and allowing them to cooperate over direct ties either in a regime of collective invention or bilateral R&D alliances. We find networks with skewed degree distribution as most productive under R&D alliances and perfect IPR since they best concentrate scarce resources in discovering different knowledge combinations. In contrast, under collective invention and imperfect IPR, clustered networks better diffuse valuable ideas and knowledge resulting in the overall superior performance. Furthermore, under imperfect IPR, collective invention raises the inequality in payoffs among agents in networks with skewed degree distribution but reduces it for clustered topologies. The latter brings a novel explanation on why industries in the past have experienced a shift in the dominant pattern of knowledge exchange.
KW - Collective invention
KW - Discovery
KW - Intellectual property rights
KW - Knowledge space
KW - Networks
KW - R&D alliance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100110312&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/b64a4d6f-fff4-34a7-8350-12bbc4bf85ec/
U2 - 10.1007/s11403-020-00314-1
DO - 10.1007/s11403-020-00314-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100110312
SN - 1860-711X
VL - 16
SP - 497
EP - 527
JO - Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination
JF - Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination
IS - 3
ER -