Rethinking Invention: Cognition and the Economics of Technological Creativity

Gary Magee

No 861, Department of Economics - Working Papers Series from The University of Melbourne

Abstract: Economists have typically not devoted much attention to the act of invention. This paper attempts to redress this situation by exploring a form of cognition, analogical transfer, which is thought by some researchers to lie at the heart of successful creativity. An analogical transfer is said to have occurred when information and experiences from one known situation is retrieved and utilized in the search for the solution to an entirely different situation. This paper shows how such analogical thought can give rise to a theoretical framework, in which disparate factors pertaining to technological creativity can be pieced together to yield an explanation of the level of inventive output experienced.

Keywords: invention; technological change; technological creativity; problem solving; learning. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Journal Article: Rethinking invention: cognition and the economics of technological creativity (2005)
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