Scaling of Atypical Knowledge Combinations in American Metropolitan Areas from 1836 to 2010

Lars Mewes

No 1841, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: Cities are epicenters for invention. Scaling analyses have verified the productivity of cities and demonstrate a super-linear relationship between cities? population size and invention performance. However, little is known about what kinds of inventions correlate with city size. Is the productivity of cities only limited to invention quantity? We shift the focus on the quality of idea creation by investigating how cities influence the art of knowledge combination. Atypical combinations introduce novel and unexpected linkages between knowledge domains. They express creativity in inventions and are particularly important for technological breakthroughs. Our study of 174 years of invention history in metropolitan areas in the United States (US) reveals a super-linear scaling of atypical combination with population size. The observed scaling grows over time indicating a geographic shift towards cities since the early 20th century. The productivity of large cities is thus not only restricted to quantity, but also includes quality in invention processes.

Keywords: Atypical Knowledge Combination, Cities, Historic Patent Data, Invention; Scaling Analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O30 O31 O33 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-11, Revised 2018-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-his, nep-knm, nep-tid and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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