The Role of Novelty-Seeking Traits in Contemporary Knowledge Creation

Erkan Goeren ()
Additional contact information
Erkan Goeren: University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Erkan Gören

No V-402-17, Working Papers from University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper hypothesizes and empirically establishes the persistent effects of novelty-seeking traits on crosscountry differences in scientifc knowledge creation. I use data on the prevalence of specifc allele variants of the human DRD4 exon III gene, which population geneticists have linked to the human phenotype of novelty-seeking behavior to examine its relationship to scientifc knowledge creation in society. The results suggest a positive and statistically signifcant linear relationship between both outcomes that is consistent with the hypothesis that the prevalence of novelty-seeking traits in society facilitates scientifc knowledge creation through benefcial human behaviors related to risk-taking and explorative behavior. The empirical fndings remain qualitatively unaffected when controlling for additional historical, biogeographical, and socioeconomic factors that appear as additional important determinants in the creation of scientifc knowledge in society.

Keywords: DRD4 Exon III; Novelty-Seeking Traits; Entrepreneurial Activity; Knowledge Creation; Technological Progress; Economic Development; Natural Selection; Genetic Diversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-09, Revised 2017-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro and nep-knm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in Oldenburg Working Papers V-402-17

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/ ... ete/vwl/V-402-17.pdf First version, 2017 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Role of Novelty-Seeking Traits in Contemporary Knowledge Creation (2018)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:old:dpaper:402

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catharina Schramm ().