Economic Theory of Invention and Innovation

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

‘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.’

• Contents: AcknowledgementsIntroductionAlbert N. LinkPART IEXOGENOUS 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 IIINDUCED 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 IIIENDOGENOUS 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 IVSOURCES 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 VADOPTION 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