The Knowledge Filter, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Growth

Bo Carlsson (), Zoltan Acs, David Audretsch () and Pontus Braunerhjelm
Additional contact information
Bo Carlsson: Case Western Reserve University University, 111 18 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7235,

No 2007-057, Jena Economics Research Papers from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between knowledge creation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth in the United States over the last 150 years. According to the "new growth theory", investments in knowledge and human capital generate economic growth via spillovers of knowledge. But the theory does not explain how or why spillovers occur, or why large investments in R+D do not always result in economic growth. What is missing is "the knowledge filter" - the distinction between general knowledge and economically useful knowledge. Also missing is a mechanism (such as entrepreneurship) converting economically relevant knowledge into economic activity. This paper shows that the unprecedented increase in R+D spending in the United States during and after World War II was converted into economic activity via incumbent firms in the early postwar period and increasingly via new ventures in the last few decades.

Keywords: knowledge; economic growth; entrepreneurship; spillovers; history (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N90 O14 O17 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-09-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-his, nep-hrm, nep-ino and nep-knm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The knowledge filter, Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-057

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