From Information to Communication: Generative Interaction in the Production of Knowledge

Tomasz Kopczewski () and Jan Lisicki ()
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Tomasz Kopczewski: University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences
Jan Lisicki: University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences

No 2026-30, Working Papers from Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw

Abstract: Economic analysis of information explains how existing knowledge is distributed, revealed, and used, while the economics of innovation treats new ideas as outcomes of search and recombination. This paper examines a distinct role of communication in knowledge production: interaction can change the course of search itself. We define the mechanism as adaptive feedback, in which one participant responds to the current state of another participant's reasoning and thereby alters the directions subsequently explored. The resulting idea need not be contained in the feedback or previously possessed by either participant. In stronger cases, interaction can change the representation of the problem and make previously unavailable hypotheses accessible. The paper distinguishes this generative role of interaction from information transmission and access to others' knowledge. It argues that institutions shape knowledge production through both information structure and interaction structure, including the timing of interaction and the balance between independent search and mutual influence.

Keywords: communication; knowledge production; generative interaction; search; innovation; problem representation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 O31 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2026
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https://www.wne.uw.edu.pl/download_file/9a232dc8-6 ... 3d-d00632596975/4282 First version, 2026 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:war:wpaper:2026-30

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