The Economic Theory of Invention and Innovation

by Albert N. Link (Editor)

Overview

This comprehensive collection presents the classic articles in the economics of invention and innovation. It covers topics related to sources of inventive and innovative activity, including exogenous and endogenous innovation, with an emphasis on R&D activity and the diffusion of new techniques. Professor Link has prepared an original introduction, which offers an authoritative overview of a subject that is of growing importance to both economists and management scientists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847206022
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	03/31/2008
Series:	The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics series , #215
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Edited by Albert N. Link,Virginia Batte Phillips Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, US

Table of Contents

Contents:

Acknowledgements

Introduction Albert N. Link

PART I EXOGENOUS INNOVATIONS
1. Yale Brozen (1953), ‘Determinants of the Direction of Technological Change’
2. Robert M. Solow (1957), ‘Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function’
3. Richard R. Nelson (1959), ‘The Economics of Invention: A Survey of the Literature’
4. Benton F. Massell (1961), ‘A Disaggregated View of Technical Change’

PART II INDUCED INNOVATION
5. M. Blaug (1963), ‘A Survey of the Theory of Process-Innovations’
6. Syed Ahmad (1966), ‘On the Theory of Induced Invention’
7. M.I. Kamien and N.L. Schwartz (1969), ‘Induced Factor Augmenting Technical Progress from a Microeconomic Viewpoint’
8. William D. Nordhaus (1969), ‘An Economic Theory of Technological Change’
9. William Fellner (1971), ‘Empirical Support for the Theory of Induced Innovations’

PART III ENDOGENOUS INNOVATION
10. Kenneth J. Arrow (1962), ‘The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing’
11. Richard R. Nelson and Sidney G. Winter (1977), ‘In Search of Useful Theory of Innovation’
12. Paul M. Romer (1990), ‘Endogenous Technological Change’
13. Robert F. Hébert and Albert N. Link (2006), ‘The Entrepreneur as Innovator’

PART IV SOURCES OF INNOVATION
14. Richard R. Nelson (1959), ‘The Simple Economics of Basic Scientific Research’
15. Morton I. Kamien and Nancy L. Schwartz (1971), ‘Expenditure Patterns for Risky R and D Projects’
16. F.M. Scherer (1982), ‘Inter-Industry Technology Flows in the United States’
17. Wesley M. Cohen and Daniel A. Levinthal (1989), ‘Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D’
18. Gary P. Pisano (1996), ‘Learning-Before-Doing in the Development of New Process Technology’

PART V ADOPTION AND DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION
19. Zvi Griliches (1957), ‘Hybrid Corn: An Exploration in the Economics of Technological Change’
20. Edwin Mansfield (1961), ‘Technical Change and the Rate of Imitation’
21. Edwin Mansfield (1963), ‘The Speed of Response of Firms to New Techniques’
22. Kenneth J. Arrow (1969), ‘Classifactory Notes on the Production and Transmission of Technological Knowledge’
23. Nathan Rosenberg (1972), ‘Factors Affecting the Diffusion of Technology’
24. Paul A. David (1985), ‘Clio and the Economics of QWERTY’

Name Index

Editorial Reviews

‘This collection includes some of the most important papers on the economics of invention and innovation over the past half century. It is an essential resource for both researchers and students in this increasingly critical area of economics.’

Gregory C. Tassey

‘This is an excellent collection of the seminal papers in the economics of innovation. I would think every scholar in the field of innovation economics would find this book a very useful addition to his or her library. The collection is admirable in that it emphasizes the origins of the modern field in work done during the 1950s and 1960s and therefore I would find it very useful as a source of background readings for courses in this area.’

Bronwyn H. Hall

‘One criticism of many research papers. . . is that they are not sufficiently grounded in theory. Therefore, Albert N. Link’s [book] is particularly welcome. The volume, which is structured in five parts, brings together practically all the key writings on the economics of invention and innovation – in other words, the seminal articles have laid the groundwork for contemporary research in the field. . . Academics who are teaching and/or writing in the field will, as a result, find the book of particular utility in understanding its development, and indeed, it is potentially magnificent as a tool to deepen students’ knowledge of the economics of invention and innovation. . . Because of Link’s fine pedigree in the field, I do not feel there are any significant omissions. . . The choice of articles in this book is almost inspired. . . Entrepreneurship academics should read this volume, as it will remind them that “corporate entrepreneurship” or “intrapreneurship” is, in effect, invention and innovation.’

Jonathan M. Scott