Culture and diversity in knowledge creation

Berliant, Marcus and Fujita, Masahisa (2011): Culture and diversity in knowledge creation.

Abstract

Is the paradise of effortless communication the ideal environment for knowledge creation? Or, can the development of local culture in regions raise knowledge productivity compared to a single region with a unitary culture? In other words, can a real technological increase in the cost of collaboration and the cost of public knowledge flow between regions, resulting in cultural differentiation between regions, increase welfare? In our framework, a culture is a set of ideas held exclusively by residents of a location. In general in our model, the equilibrium path generates separate cultures in different regions. When we compare this to the situation where all workers are resident in one region, R & D workers become too homogeneous and there is only one culture. As a result, equilibrium productivity in the creation of new knowledge is lower relative to the situation when there are multiple cultures and workers are more diverse.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: knowledge creation; knowledge diversity; ideas and culture
• Subjects: Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D83 - Search ; Learning ; Information and Knowledge ; Communication ; Belief ; Unawareness; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O31 - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

References

Agarwal, A., Kapur, D., McHale, J., 2008. Brain drain or brain bank? The impact of skilled emigration on poor-country innovation. NBER Working Paper 14592.

Belderbos, R., Leten, B., Suzuki, S., 2009. Does excellence in academic research attract foreign R & D? Working Paper, K.U. Leuven.

Bellini, E., Ottaviano, G.I.P., Pinelli, D, Prarolo, G., 2008. Cultural diversity and economic performance: Evidence from European regions. Hamburg Institute of International Economics Working Paper 3-14.

Berliant, M., Fujita, M., 2008. Knowledge creation as a square dance on the Hilbert cube. International Economic Review 49, 1251-1295.

Berliant, M., Fujita, M, 2009. Dynamics of knowledge creation and transfer: The two person case. International Journal of Economic Theory 5, 155-179.

Berliant, M., Fujita, M, 2011. The dynamics of knowledge diversity and economic growth. Southern Economic Journal 77, 856-884.

Berliant, M., Reed, R., Wang, P., 2006. Knowledge exchange, matching, and agglomeration. Journal of Urban Economics 60, 69-95.

Card, D., 2007, How immigration affects U.S. cities. CReAM Discussion Paper 11/07.

Cardoso, A.R., Guimarães, P., Zimmerman, K.F., 2010. Trends in economic research: An international perspective. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4785.

Duranton, G., Puga, D., 2001. Nursery cities: Urban diversity, process innovation, and the life cycle of products. American Economic Review 91, 1454-1477.

Helsley, R.W., Strange, W.C., 2004. Knowledge barter in cities. Journal of Urban Economics 56, 327-345.

Jacobs, J., 1961. The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House).

Kerr, W.R., Lincoln, W.F., 2008. The supply side of innovation: H-1B visa reforms and US ethnic invention. Harvard Business School Working Paper 09-005.

Lösch, A., 1940. The Economics of Location (New Haven: Yale University Press).

Ottaviano, G.I.P., Peri, G., 2006. The economic value of cultural diversity: Evidence from US cities, Journal of Economic Geography 6, 9-44.

Ottaviano, G.I.P., Peri, G., 2008. Immigration and national wages: Clarifying the theory and the empirics. Working Paper.

Samuelson, P.A., 1949. International factor-price equalisation once again. The Economic Journal 59, 181-197.

Vaporis, C.N., 2008. Tour of Duty: Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and the Culture of Early Modern Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press).