The fine microstructure of knowledge creation dynamics

This paper presents a new framework for modeling the fine microstructure of knowledge creation dynamics. Our focus is on the creation of working nowledge used in innovation, for example, the knowledge used by a researcher in the economics profession. The framework has been developed to address the following questions: What is the appropriate way to model the operational structure of working knowledge? How are specific new ideas, research papers, and patents created by a research worker or a group of them, based on the current stock of knowledge? What roles do dynamics, heterogeneity of ideas, heterogeneity of researchers, and cities or regions play? Using our framework, first we study how a researcher creates a new literature, choosing new assumptions, models, implications, and observations in each step. Next, we examine how two researchers interact in creating new complete literatures together. Finally, we discuss how to extend the analysis to N-person case in multiple cities or regions. In the last NARSA meetings in Atlanta, we presented preliminary results on the same topic. In this paper, we report further advances on modeling the fine microstructure of knowledge creation dynamics.