The diffusion of knowledge plays an important role in both the creation and distribution of wealth. Attempting to construct a competitive advantage, managers of firms often seek to spread valuable knowledge widely across subunits of the organization, while simultaneously preventing its diffusion...

Social relationships channel information, influence, and access to scarce resources. As a consequence, social networks - the patterns of these relationships across the members of a community - influence who comes up with important innovations, whether and how rapidly those innovations get...