The Regional Dimension of Knowledge Transfers - A Behavioral Approach

Tom Broekel () and Martin Binder ()

Papers on Economics and Evolution from Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group

Abstract: Innovations are inherently connected to knowledge transfers. The need of face-to-face contacts to transfer tacit knowledge is commonly argued to cause a regional dimension of innovative activities. The paper presents an alternative explanation based on a model of boundedly rational actors who search for knowledge. It is shown that a regional dimension exists in these processes that results from a regional bias in an actor’s search activities. Social embeddedness, a shared regional identity and limited spatial mobility foster this bias. We argue that insights from research on these topics can help to define the geographic size of a region.

Keywords: Regional Economics; Innovation; Knowledge Transfers; Tacit Knowledge; Bounded Rationality Length 31 pages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B52 D83 O31 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-evo, nep-geo, nep-ino, nep-knm, nep-pke, nep-soc and nep-ure
Date: 2006-09
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Journal Article: The Regional Dimension of Knowledge Transfers - A Behavioral Approach (2007)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:esi:evopap:2006-12

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