A humanistic account of the changing role of technology in society, by a historian and a former Dean of Students and Undergraduate Education at MIT.When Warren Kendall Lewis left Spring Garden Farm in Delaware in 1901 to enter MIT, he had no idea that he was becoming part of a profession that would bring untold good to his country but would also contribute to the death of his family's farm. In …
A proposal that the notion of specificity-the idea that factors of production are not interchangeable-can provide a unified framework to analyze and understand a wide variety of macroeconomic phenomena stemming from the transactional environment and micro.OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
This book demonstrates the inevitability of a continuously growing role of data in our society and it stresses that this role does not need to be threatening: to the contrary, collection and analysis of data can help us prevent traffic jams, suppress epidemics, or produce tailor made medicine. The authors sketch the contours of a new information society, in which everything will be measured fro…
Using cooperative game theory, this book shows how bargaining structure affects the distribution of value among the constituent firms of the value chain. Results show that positions in the bargaining structure most conducive to value capture are those where large complementarity gains are realized and split, ideally, among a small number of negotiators. Further, leveraging case studies from the…
Explorations of science, technology, and innovation in Africa not as the product of “technology transfer” from elsewhere but as the working of African knowledge. In the STI literature, Africa has often been regarded as a recipient of science, technology, and innovation rather than a maker of them. In this book, scholars from a range of disciplines show that STI in Africa is not merely th…
A leading innovation scholar explains the growing phenomenon and impact of free innovation, in which innovations developed by consumers and given away “for free.” In this book, Eric von Hippel, author of the influential Democratizing Innovation, integrates new theory and research findings into the framework of a “free innovation paradigm.” Free innovation, as he defines it, involves …
This book addresses the ability of market-based instruments to improve the sustainable provision of environmental services. The author combines field research and insights from the multi-stakeholder dialogue at the FAO to analyze the gap between the predictions provided by theory and the corresponding outcomes in practice. In particular, the author challenges the theory behind Payments for Envi…
Using cooperative game theory, this book shows how bargaining structure affects the distribution of value among the constituent firms of the value chain. Results show that positions in the bargaining structure most conducive to value capture are those where large complementarity gains are realized and split, ideally, among a small number of negotiators. Further, leveraging case studies from the…
A leading innovation scholar explains the growing phenomenon and impact of free innovation, in which innovations developed by consumers and given away “for free.” In this book, Eric von Hippel, author of the influential Democratizing Innovation, integrates new theory and research findings into the framework of a “free innovation paradigm.” Free innovation, as he defines it, involves …
A proposal for moving from price-centric to innovation-centric competition policy, reviewing theory and evidence on economic incentives for innovation. Competition policy and antitrust enforcement have traditionally focused on prices rather than innovation. Economic theory shows the ways that price competition benefits consumers, and courts, antitrust agencies, and economists have developed …