The Microeconomics of Technological Systems
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:12th Jul '01
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This book sets out to explore the generation of technological knowledge and the introduction of technological change. Cristiano Antonelli enters this new area of debate by arguing that increasing returns in the production of knowledge apply, albeit under a very specific and contextual set of complementary conditions. Increasing returns can take place within technological districts and clusters where qualified interactions among connected innovators make it possible to take advantage of the modular indivisibility and cumulativeness of technological knowledge. Antonelli illustrates his argument by reference to technological systems and complementarities, irreversibility, and collective knowledge; by examining the role of learning and technological communication as key factors in defining the rate and direction of change within technological systems; and by identifying technological districts and clusters within a theoretical framework which values local externalities, irreversibility, and endogenous structural change. "The Microeconomics of Technological Systems" proposes a general, interpretative framework which identifies, qualifies, and specifies the specific context and processes which make it possible for increasing returns to apply in the localized production of technological knowledge and change. In so doing, it builds on the results of systematic explorations of the microdynamics of technological knowledge and change over a large number of European technological districts and clusters centred on new communication and mechanical engineering technologies.
The systemic approach proposed in the book for understanding processes and phenomena leading to technological change is particularly valuable in informing empirical studies on local clusters. * Journal of Evolutionary Economics *
Very topical ... Following the path traced in evolutionary thinking on technological change in the theoretical/descriptive part, the author provides a very rich framework for the study of localized technological change. * Journal of Evolutionary Economics *
ISBN: 9780199245536
Dimensions: 224mm x 145mm x 18mm
Weight: 399g
242 pages