European Regional Science Association
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European Regional Science Association
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The abstract for paper number 225:
Petri Ruuskanen, University of Jyväskylä
Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, Jyväskylä, Finland
Social capital and knowledge spillovers
In the information economy, knowledge, learnin, and human and intellectual capital have become central factors of economic growth. It is nowadays widely recognized that economic development and innovative processes depend on “knowledge spillovers” and their positive externalities. At the same time the concept of knowledge spillover has remained largely a black box. We do not know, what the social mechanisms behind the diffusion of knowledge and knowledge spillovers are.
The paper discusses the role of social capital (social networks, norms, and trust) in the overspilling of knowledge. What kind of social institutions and social practices enhance the diffusion of knowledge, information and innovations in and between regions and individual firms? What are the mechanisms that promote communication between actors and enable them to take advantage of diverse expertise in order to observe problems and discover solutions that are critical for the innovative process? How is trust, which is crucial for the sharing of knowledge, created in networks?
Unfortunately full paper has not been submitted.