Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T01:27:23.861Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - On the Social Evolution of Knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2021

By
Renée Prendergast
Edited by
Erwin Dekker  and
Pavel Kuchař
Erwin Dekker
Affiliation:
Mercatus Center, George Mason University, Virginia
Pavel Kuchař
Affiliation:
King's College London
Get access

Summary

The idea of economic and social progress which emerged in the seventeenth century had as its basis the cumulative growth of knowledge. This included not just codified scientific knowledge but also knowledge which was produced and reproduced in the course of the ordinary business of life and embodied in individual humans, in artefacts and in practices. Although the independent role of knowledge in economic growth always had some recognition, in the period between the late eighteenth and twentieth centuries, it was largely subsumed within the accumulation of capital. While this did reflect the substantial embodiment of knowledge in capital equipment, it also meant that wider considerations of the social and cumulative role of knowledge in productive activity became a minority and heterodox pursuit. The paper seeks to recover the longer historical pedigree of this wider understanding of knowledge including some of its specific characteristics such as its non-rival nature, its incomplete excludability, its tacitness and the uncertainties surrounding innovation.

Keywords

KnowledgeCumulativeProgressInnovation
Type
Chapter
Information
Governing Markets as Knowledge Commons , pp. 58 - 88
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adner, Ron. 2006. ‘Match Your Innovation Strategy to Your Innovation Ecosystem’. Harvard Business Review 84 (4): 98–107.Google ScholarPubMed
Alter, Stephen G. 2008. ‘Mandeville’s Ship: Theistic Design and Philosophical History in Charles Darwin’s Vision of Natural Selection’. Journal of the History of Ideas 69: 441–465.Google Scholar
Allen, Darcy and Potts, Jason. 2016. ‘How Innovation Commons Contribute to Discovering and Developing New Technologies’. International Journal of the Commons 10 (2): 1035–1054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambec, Stefan, Cohen, Mark A., Elgie, Stewart and Lanoie, Paul. 2013. ‘The Porter Hypothesis at 20: Can Environmental Regulation Enhance Innovation and Competitiveness?’ Review of Environmental Economics and Policy 7 (1): 2–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arrow, Kenneth J. 1962. ‘Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention’. In The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, edited by Nelson, R. R., 609–628. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacon, Francis. 1902. Novum Organum. Edited by Devey, Joseph. New York: P. F. Collier.Google Scholar
Babbage, Charles. [1832] 1835. On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. Fourth enlarged edition. London: Charles Knight.Google Scholar
Babbage, Charles. [1851] 1968. The Exposition of 1851. London: Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Becattini, Giacomo. 1990. ‘The Marshallian Industrial District as a Socio-economic Notion’. In Industrial Districts and Interfirm Co-operation in Italy, edited by Pyke, Frank, Becattini, Giacomo and Sengenberger, Werner. Geneva: IILS, 37–51.Google Scholar
Bentham, Jeremy. [1787] 1818. Defense of Usury, 4th ed. London: T. Payne and Son.Google Scholar
Bentham, Jeremy. 1843a. ‘The Rationale of Reward’. In The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Vol. II, Book III, Chapter ii, edited by Bowring, J.. London, Edinburgh: W. Tait.Google Scholar
Bentham, Jeremy. 1843b. ‘A Manual of Political Economy’. In The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Vol. III, edited by Bowring, J.. London, Edinburgh: W. Tait.Google Scholar
Brewer, Anthony. 1991. ‘Economic Growth and Technical Change: John Rae’s Critique of Adam Smith’. History of Political Economy 23 (1): 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burke, Edmund. [1769] 1981. ‘Observations on a Late State of the Nation’. In The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, edited by Langford, P.. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Burke, Edmund. [1790] 1989. ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’. In The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke, edited by Mitchell, L. G. and Todd, W. D., Vol. VIII, 102–180. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Bury, John B. 1960. The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry into Its Origin and Growth. London: The Macmillan Co.Google Scholar
Carlsson, Bo and Stankiewicz, Rikard. 1991. ‘On the Nature, Function and Composition of Technological Systems’. Journal of Evolutionary Economics 1 (2): 93–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cimoli, Mario, Dosi, Giovani and Stiglitz, Joseph E.. 2010. Industrial Policy and Development: The Political Economy of Capabilities Accumulation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Wesley M. and Levinthal, Daniel A.. 1990. ‘Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation’. Administrative Science Quarterly 35 (1): 128–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Condorcet, Antoine N. 1796. Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human Mind. Philadelphia: Lang and Ustick.Google Scholar
Cusumano, Michael A. and Gawer, Annabelle. 2002. ‘The Elements of Platform Leadership’. MIT Sloan Management Review 43 (3): 51–58.Google Scholar
Darwin, Charles. 1859. The Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Dedehayir, Ozgur and Seppänen, Marko. 2015. ‘Birth and Expansion of Innovation Ecosystems: A Case Study of Copper Production’. Journal of Technology Management & Innovation 10 (2): 146–154.Google Scholar
Delemarle, Aurélie and Larédo, Philippe. 2008. ‘Breakthrough Innovation and the Shaping of New Markets: The Role of Communities of Practice’. In Community, Economic Creativity, and Organisation, edited by Amin, A. and Roberts, J., 178–199. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Devaille, Jules. 1910. Essai sur l’histoire de l’idée de progrès jusqu’à la fin du 18e siècle. Paris: F. Alcan.Google Scholar
Eamon, William. 1996. Science and the Secrets of Nature: Books of Secrets in Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, Rebecca S. 2008. ‘Noncompliance, Nonenforcement, Nonproblem? Rethinking the Anticommons in Biomedical Research’. Houston Law Review 45 (4): 1059–1099.Google Scholar
Elder, Jakob and Fagerberg, Jan. 2017. ‘Innovation Policy: What, Why and How’. Oxford Review of Economic Policy 33 (1): 2–23.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Adam. 1782. An Essay on the History of Civil Society. London: T. Cadell and Edinburgh: W. Creech and J. Bell.Google Scholar
Flanagan, Kieron, Uyarra, Elvira and Laranja, Manuel. 2011. ‘Reconceptualizing the “Policy Mix” for Innovation’. Research Policy 40 (5): 702–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foray, Dominique. 2004. Economics of Knowledge. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Freeman, Chris. 1995. ‘The “National System of Innovation” in Historical Perspective’. Cambridge Journal of Economics 19 (1): 5–24.Google Scholar
Frischmann, Brett M. 2012. Infrastructure: The Social Value of Shared Resources. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Galen. 1985. Three Treatises on the Nature of Science. Translated by Richard, Walzer and Michael, Frede. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.Google Scholar
Gaukroger, Stephen. 2001. Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early-Modern Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Glacken, Clarence J. 1967. Traces on the Rhodian Shore. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Gross, Anna and Murgia, Madhumita. 2020. ‘China and Huawei Propose Re-invention of the Internet’. Financial Times, March 27.Google Scholar
Hay, Colin. 1999. ‘Crisis and the Structural Transformation of the State: Interrogating the Process of Change’. British Journal of Politics and International Relations 1 (3): 317–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayek, Friedrich A. 1967. ‘Dr. Bernard Mandeville. Lecture on a Master Mind delivered to the Academy on March 23, 1966’. Proceedings of the British Academy 52: 125–141.Google Scholar
Hayek, Friedrich A. 2011. The Constitution of Liberty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hegel, Georg W. F. 2001. Philosophy of Right. Kitchener: Batoche Books.Google Scholar
Heller, Michael A. and Eisenberg, Rebecca S.. 1998. ‘Can Patents Deter Innovation: The Anticommons in Biomedical Research’. Science 280 (5364): 698–701.Google Scholar
Hess, Charlotte and Ostrom, Elinor. 2007. Understanding Knowledge as Commons: From Theory to Practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
von Hippel, Eric. 1994. ‘“Sticky Information” and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation’. Management Science 40 (4): 429–439.Google Scholar
Hodgskin, Thomas. 1825. Labour Defended against the Claims of Capital: Or, the Unproductiveness of Capital Proved with Reference to the Present Combinations amongst Journeymen. New York: Augustus M. Kelly.Google Scholar
Hume, David. 1779. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. London.Google Scholar
Infantino, Lorenzo. 1998. Individualism in Modern Thought. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Iansiti, Marco and Levien, Roy. 2004. ‘Creating Value in Your Business Ecosystem’. Harvard Business Review, https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/creating-value-in-your-business-ecosystem.Google Scholar
Jeremy, David I. 1977. ‘Damming the Flood: British Government Efforts to Check the Outflow of Technicians and Machinery, 1780–1843’. The Business History Review 51 (1): 1–34.Google Scholar
Kay, Neil M., Leih, Sohvi and Teece, David J.. 2018. ‘The Role of Emergence in Dynamic Capabilities: A Restatement of the Framework and Some Possibilities for Future Research’. Industrial and Corporate Change 27 (4): 623–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, Donald R. 1978. ‘The Metaphysics of Law: An Essay on the Very Young Marx’. The American Historical Review 83 (2): 350–367.Google Scholar
Kim, Linsu. 1999. ‘Building Technological Capability for Industrialization: Analytical Frameworks and Korea’s Experience’. Industrial and Corporate Change 8 (1): 111–136.Google Scholar
Klenner, Hermann. 1989. ‘Savigny’s Research Program of the Historical School of Law and Its Intellectual Impact in 19th Century Berlin’. The American Journal of Comparative Law 37 (1): 67–80.Google Scholar
Kreuger, Anne O. 1974. ‘The Political Economy of Rent-Seeking Society’. American Economic Review 64 (3): 291–303.Google Scholar
List, Friedrich. 1841. The National System of Political Economy. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.Google Scholar
Lundvall, Bengt-Åke. ed. 1992. National Systems of Innovation: Toward a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning. London: Pinter Publishers.Google Scholar
Lundvall, Bengt-Åke. 2010. National Systems of Innovation: Toward a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning. London: Anthem.Google Scholar
Lundvall, Bengt-Åke. 2016. The Learning Economy and the Economics of Hope. London: Anthem.Google Scholar
Madison, Michael J., Frischmann, Brett M. and Strandburg, Katherine J.. 2009. ‘The University as Constructed Cultural Commons’. Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 30: 365, https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_journal_law_policy/vol30/iss1/12.Google Scholar
Malerba, Franco and McKelvey, Maureen M.. 2020. ‘Knowledge-Intensive Innovative Entrepreneurship Integrating Schumpeter, Evolutionary Economics, and Innovation Systems’. Small Business Economics 54: 503–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandeville, Bernard. 1730. A Treatise of the Hypochondriack and Hysterick Diseases. In Three Dialogues. London: J. Tonson.Google Scholar
Mandeville, Bernard. 1924. The Fable of the Bees, 2 Vols. Edited by Kaye, F. B.. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. [1842] 1975. ‘The Philosophical Manifesto of the Historical School of Law’. Supplement to the Rheiniche Zeitung No. 221, August 9, Marx & Engels, Collected Works, Vol. 1. London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. 1982. ‘Letter to Annenkov’. In Karl Marx, Fredrick Engels Collected Works, Lopukhina, Margarita, Pitskhelauri, Mzia and Vladimirova, Anna, Vol. 38, 95–106. London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. 1987. Karl Marx, Fredrick Engels Collected Works, Vol. 29. London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar
Mateos-Garcia, Juan and Steinmeuller, W. E.. 2008. ‘Open but How Much? Growth, Conflict, and Institutional Evolution in Open-Source Communities’. In Community, Economic Creativity, and Organisation, edited by Amin, A. and Roberts, J., 254–282. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Meek, Ronald L. 1973. Turgot on Progress, Sociology and Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Meek, Ronald L. 1976. Social Science and the Ignoble Savage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Michie, Jonathan and Prendergast, Renée. 1998. ‘Government Intervention in a Dynamic Economy’. New Political Economy 3 (3): 391–406.Google Scholar
Misselden, Edward. 1622. Free Trade; or the Means to Make Trade Flourish. London: John Legatt for Simon Waterson.Google Scholar
Mokyr, Joel. 2018. Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, James F. 2006. ‘Business Ecosystems and the View from the Firm’. Antitrust Bulletin 51: 31–75.Google Scholar
Nelson, Richard R. 1993. National Innovation Systems: A Comparative Analysis. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nicholson, J Shield. 1909. ‘Introductory Essay’. In The National System of Political Economy, edited by List, Friedrich, xiii–xxvii. London: Longmans, Green and Co.Google Scholar
Niederer, Sabine and van Dijck, José. 2010. ‘Wisdom of the Crowd or Technicity of Content? Wikipedia as a Sociotechnical System’. New Media & Society 12 (8): 1368–1387.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Governing the Commons – The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pascal, Blaise. 1910. Thoughts, Letters, Minor Works. New York: P. F. Collier & Son.Google Scholar
Pascal, R. 1938. ‘Property and Society: The Scottish Contribution of the Eighteenth Century’. Modern Quarterly 1(2): 167–179.Google Scholar
Pisano, Gary P. and Shih, Willy C.. 2012. Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.Google Scholar
Porter, Michael E. 1998. ‘Clusters and the New Economics of Competition’. Harvard Business Review December: 77–90.Google Scholar
Porter, Michael and van de Linde, Claas. 1995. ‘Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship’. Journal of Economic Perspectives 9 (4): 97–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potts, Jason. 2018. ‘Governing the Innovation Commons’. Journal of Institutional Economics 14 (6): 1025–1047.Google Scholar
Prendergast, Renée. 2010. ‘Accumulation of Knowledge and Accumulation of Capital in Early Theories of Growth and Development’. Cambridge Journal of Economics 34 (3): 413–431.Google Scholar
Prendergast, Renée. 2014. ‘Knowledge, Innovation and Emulation in the Evolutionary thought of Bernard Mandeville’. Cambridge Journal of Economics 38 (1): 87–107.Google Scholar
Rae, John. [1834] 1964. Statement of Some New Principles on the Subject of Political Economy. Reprints of economic classics. New York: A. M. Kelley.Google Scholar
Rodrik, Dani. 2004. ‘Industrial Policy for the 21st Century’. KSG Working Paper No. RWP04-047.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Nathan. 1960. ‘Some Institutional Aspects of the Wealth of Nations’. Journal of Political Economy 68 (6): 557–570.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Nathan. 1976. Perspectives on Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schot, Johan and Edward Steinmueller, W.. 2018. ‘Three Frames for Innovation Policy: R&D, Systems of Innovation and Transformative Change’. Research Policy 47: 1554–1567.Google Scholar
Schmitter, Philippe C. 1985. ‘Neo-corporatism and the State’. In The Political Economy of Corporatism. Sociology, Politics and Cities, edited by Grant, Wyn. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1947a. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 2nd revised ed. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1947b. ‘The Creative Response in Economic History’. The Journal of Economic History 7 (2): 149–159.Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1961. The Theory of Economic Development. Translated by Opie, R.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Shafaeddin, Mehdi. 2000. ‘What Did Friedrich List Actually Say? Some Clarifications on the Infant Industry Argument’. UNCTAD/OSG/DP/149.Google Scholar
Skinner, Andrew. 1982. ‘A Scottish Contribution to Marxist Sociology?’ In Classical and Marxian Political Economy, edited by Bradley, I. and Howard, M.. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1976a. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Edited by Raphael, D. D. and Macfie., A. L. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1976b. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 2 Vols. Edited by Campbell, R. H., Skinner, A. S. and Todd, W. B.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1980. Essays on Philosophical Subjects. Edited by Wightman, W. P. D.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Steuart, James. 1767. An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy. London: A. Millar & T. Cadell.Google Scholar
Swift, Jonathan. [1704] 1724. A Tale of a Tub to Which Is Added an Account of the Battle between Ancient and Modern Books in St. James’s Library, 6th ed. London: S. Tooke and B Motte.Google Scholar
Teece, David J. 2018. ‘Profiting from Innovation in the Digital Economy: Enabling Technologies, Standards, and Licensing Models in the Wireless World’. Research Policy 47 (8): 1367–1387.Google Scholar
SirTemple, Willam. 1909. Essays on Ancient and Modern Learning and Poetry. Edited by Springbarn, J. E.. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, William. 1824. An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth Most Conducive to Human Happiness. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Thomson, Herbert F. 1965. ‘Adam Smith’s Philosophy of Science’. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 79 (2): 212–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turgot, A. R. J. [1750] 1913. ‘Tableau philosophique des progrès successifs de l’esprit humain’. Oeuvres de Turgot, Tome 2, 214–235. Paris: Librarie Felix Alcan.Google Scholar
Turgot, A. R. J. [1751] 1808. ‘Plan de deux discours sur l’histoire universelle’. Oeuvres de M Turgot, Tome 2, par P. S. Dupont de Nemours, 209–352. Paris: impr de Delence.Google Scholar
Viner, Jacob. 1961. ‘Hayek on Freedom and Coercion’. Southern Economic Journal 27 (3): 230–236.Google Scholar
Watson, Matthew. 2012. ‘Friedrich List’s Adam Smith Historiography and the Contested Origins of Development Theory’. Third World Quarterly 33 (3): 459–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winch, Christopher. 1998. ‘Listian Political Economy: Social Capitalism Contextualized?’ New Political Economy 3 (2): 301–316.Google Scholar
Yip, George S. and McKern, Bruce. 2016. China’s Next Strategic Advantage: From Imitation to Innovation. Boston: The MIT Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×