Knowledge externality
The term knowledge externalities referred to in the economics the decisive competitive knowledge as a factor of production . Whether companies profit themselves from the knowledge they have generated through research and development or whether their competitors derive excessive advantages from it is decisive for the innovative capacity of many branches of the economy .
In theory, knowledge externalities come from three different sources. From research and development work in the company itself. Second, knowledge can be made possible by analyzing competing products. The most important source is the informal exchange of information and ideas. This interaction of information and external effects creates special knowledge that is available to the company as know-how .
Economic classification
From an economic point of view, knowledge produces positive external effects. This is especially true of technology . For example, benefits acquired through research and development are available to all market participants through productivity increases in the extreme.
In the basic model of constant growth and environmental dynamics, the positive external effects (knowledge externalities) of private investment activity represent a basic element for technical progress. If technical progress makes new knowledge equally available everywhere - as in the traditional neoclassical growth model -, models with knowledge externalities take Differences (tendency towards congruence). In the real world, these innovation processes occur in metropolitan areas . The knowledge gained in these centers will only be available later in less efficient regions.
An investor must expect that knowledge generated by him through research and development will be made available to potential competitors. The stronger the informal exchange, the more the willingness to invest in research decreases. From an economic point of view, too few funds are then spent on development. The income generated by private research and development activities for the entire economy exceeds the income of the investing company, given existing knowledge externalities.
An important aspect of the theory of knowledge externalities is the globalization of markets and production facilities. As a result of this process of internationalization, companies are forced to act more efficiently and in a more technology-oriented manner in order to survive in the market.
Marshall described this phenomenon using an example in which he describes a district of companies in the same industry. "The secrets of the trade are not kept in secret, but are in the air ... Good work is duly recognized, the benefits of inventing and improving machines, processes and general company organization are discussed immediately; when a man starts a new one If the idea is implemented, it is taken up by others and combined with their own suggestions, so that it becomes the source of further new ideas. "
Applications
Application 1
For example, software houses and data processing services, as service industries in the ICT sector, have been among the strong, knowledge-intensive growth industries for several years. Characteristic for these two branches are a higher education of the employees, the software intensity and the dependence of the localization on branch-specific knowledge externalities or branch-specific human capital requirements. Also striking is the high growth in employment in the “R&D: natural, agricultural and medical science” sector. Non-university institutions such as the Academy of Sciences, ARC, research institutes, research institutions, laboratories, etc. place high demands on the skills and abilities of their employees. This sector is one of the most human capital-intensive but also most labor-intensive sectors in the class of knowledge-intensive service sectors.
Application 2
Knowledge externalities represent another form of static knowledge transfer. In contrast to market relationships, the transfer of knowledge is neither contractually regulated nor financially compensated. Knowledge externalities can be the result of various mechanisms.
Examples are the transfer of knowledge through mobile workers and personal contacts (Feldman 2000), the reading of patents or the “monitoring” of other companies (Malmberg and Maskell 2002). Knowledge spillovers often show a strong spatial connection (Jaffe 1989, Bottazi and Peri, 2002).
Individual evidence
- ^ Krugman, Paul R .; Obstfeld, Maurice: International Economy . 7th edition. Munich 2008
- ↑ Jürgen Pretschuh, Ronald Bieber: Key Sectors in the Urban Innovation System
- ↑ Michaela Trippl, Lukas Lengauer ao Franz Tödtling: Innovation and Knowledge Networks in the Vienna Information and Communication Technology Cluster
literature
- Krugman, Paul R .; Obstfeld, Maurice (2008): International Economy . 7th edition. Munich: Person Studium, ISBN 3-8273-7199-6
- Hans-Rimbert Hemmer, Rainer Wilhelm: Development policy implications of endogenous growth theories .
- Karl Farmer, Ingeborg Stadler: Market dynamics and environmental policy , Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster 2005, ISBN 3825874176
- Karl Farmer, Ronald Wendner: Growth and Foreign Trade: An Introduction to the Equilibrium Theory of Growth and Foreign Trade Dynamics . Physica-Verlag, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 3-7908-1238-2