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Knowledge as an economic good: Exhaustibility versus appropriability?

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  • Cristiano Antonelli

    (Università di Torino & (BRICK) Collegio Carlo Alberto)

Abstract

The analysis of knowledge as an economic good has paid much attention to its limited appropriability. Lesser attention has been paid to its limited exhaustibility. The implications of the limited exhaustibility of knowledge is most important both for economics and economic policy. The effects of the limited exhaustibility of knowledge may compensate the effects of its limited appropriability. The Arrovian knowledge market failure takes place only when and if the downward shift of the intertemporal derived demand for non-exhaustible knowledge engendered by the limited appropriability of knowledge and the consequent decline of the price of innovated goods is larger than the downward shift of the intertemporal derived demand of standard capital goods engendered by their obsolescence. The appreciation of the joint effects of the limited exhaustibility of knowledge and of the knowledge appropriability trade-off calls for the design of a new knowledge policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristiano Antonelli, 2019. "Knowledge as an economic good: Exhaustibility versus appropriability?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 647-658, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:44:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s10961-018-9665-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10961-018-9665-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Cristiano Antonelli & Christophe Feder, 2022. "Knowledge properties and the creative response in the global economy: European evidence for the years 1990–2016," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 459-475, April.
    2. Rajeev K. Goel, 2022. "Knowledge diffusion worldwide: Role of university–industry collaborations and beyond," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1330-1339, July.
    3. Cristiano Antonelli & Gianluca Orsatti & Guido Pialli, 2023. "The effects of the limited exhaustibility of knowledge on firm size and the direction of technological change," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1359-1385, August.
    4. Giuseppe Pernagallo, 2023. "Science in the mist: A model of asymmetric information for the research market," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 390-415, May.
    5. Cristiano Antonelli, 2020. "Knowledge exhaustibility public support to business R&D and the additionality constraint," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 649-663, June.
    6. Cristiano Antonelli & Gianluca Orsatti & Guido Pialli, 2023. "The knowledge-intensive direction of technological change," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(1), pages 1-27, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Knowledge exhaustibility; Appropriability trade-off; Intertemporal knowledge derived demand; Knowledge market failures;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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