This book makes a strong and coherent contribution to the discussion of the knowledge economy and of innovation, offering a range of theoretical insights from different disciplinary perspectives. The role of knowledge, knowledge development, and knowledge diffusion is discussed at the micro level of individuals and firms, but also at the level of groups of firms and sectors, as well as at the level of the economy at large.

Dolfsma analyses knowledge development and diffusion as a thoroughly social process, depending on communicative structures to support cooperation. The author combines insights from economics and management with perspectives from sociology (network theory), anthropology (gift exchange), social psychology, science studies and information theory (scientometrics), using empirical analyses to demonstrate where knowledge impacts the dynamics of an economy.

Wilfred Dolfsma, economist and philosopher, holds a PhD in economics and is currently employed as associate professor at the Utrecht School of Economics and as professorial fellow at UNU-MERIT. In addition, he is corresponding editor of the Review of Social Economy.

1. Introduction 2. Knowledge and Learning 3. Creating Knowledge: Transfer, Exchange and Gifts 4. Development of Economic Knowledge: Paradigms and New Ideas 5. Knowledge Exchange in Networks: Within-Firm Analysis 6. Knowledge Exchange between Firms: Economic Geography of High-Tech Firms 7. The Knowledge Base of an Economy: What Contributes to its Entropy? 8. A Dynamic Welfare Perspective for the Knowledge Economy 9. Concluding Remarks