[HN Gopher] Economics of Innovation: Detailed Reading List (2019)
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Economics of Innovation: Detailed Reading List (2019)
Author : necrodome
Score : 84 points
Date : 2021-06-28 10:18 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (matt-clancy.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (matt-clancy.com)
| Ericson2314 wrote:
| I wish there was something mentioning the tightness of the labor
| market. If workers are plentiful, is there as much incentive to
| automate?
| snidane wrote:
| The fundamentals of this are described by Ricardo and George
| through Law of Rent, which defines 'wage' in the context of
| rent and limited supply of land. With infinite supply of
| quality land, 'workers' and 'wages' would not need to exist as
| everybody could just be an entrepreneur/capitalist.
|
| Similar to Coases's theory of transaction costs, without which
| companies would not need to exist as everybody could transact
| freely amongst each other.
| jti107 wrote:
| slightly related...there was a write up on DARPA on HN couple
| months ago that I thought was fantastic. essentially a guide on
| how DARPA works and how one might be able to improve/replicate it
| on the civilian side. i read somewhere that DARPA provided
| Moderna with funding to research mRNA in 2005, so pretty
| impressive.
| boldslogan wrote:
| I saw the darpa moderna post but do you have other keywords to
| search for the explanation post?
| jll29 wrote:
| I like your list. As I was thinking of teaching a similar course
| in the summer of 2022, I may borrow some of your readings with
| thanks.
|
| Here are some suggested additions:
|
| Allen, Paul (2011) Idea Man.
|
| Altshuller, Genrich (1999). The Innovation Algorithm: TRIZ,
| systematic innovation, and technical creativity. Worcester, MA:
| Technical Innovation Center. ISBN 978-0-9640740-4-0.
|
| Schumpeter, Joseph A. (2009) [1948], "There is still time to stop
| inflation", in Clemence, Richard V. (ed.), Essays: on
| entrepreneurs, innovations, business cycles, and the evolution of
| capitalism, Nation's business, 1, New Brunswick, New Jersey:
| Transaction Books, pp. 241-52 ISBN 9781412822749 Originally
| printed as: Schumpeter, Joseph A. (June 1948). "There is still
| time to stop inflation". The Nation's Business. United States
| Chamber of Commerce. 6: 33-35, 88-91. Archived from the original
| on November 29, 2014.
|
| Schumpeter, Joseph A. (1949), "Economic theory and
| entrepreneurial history", in Wohl, R. R. (ed.), Change and the
| entrepreneur: postulates and the patterns for entrepreneurial
| history, Research Center in Entrepreneurial History, Cambridge,
| Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
| dredmorbius wrote:
| Interesting list, and some familiar names (W. Brian Arthur in
| particular is strongly recommended), along with some notable
| omissions (Schumpeter's already been mentioned).
|
| I'd suggest a few additions:
|
| - John H. Holland has outlined, though I'm not sure he's actually
| written a book on, the process of innovation and novel creation,
| which he describes generally as a mostly recombinative process.
| New inventions are almost always produced as an edit of one or
| more earlier ones. Sometimes via deletion, often through
| combination, sometimes through duplication. This applies to both
| human invention and genetic processes. (Holland is best known as
| the father of genetic algorithms.) I'm aware of his work through
| the Santa Fe Institute, where his ideas have been carried on by
| others (Arthur is another SFI affiliate).
|
| - Kevin Kelley, _What Technology Wants_. I 'm not a fan, but it's
| an influential book. Steven Johnson has a number of similarly-
| pitched titles, _Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History
| of Information_ and _How We Got to Now_ especially.
|
| - Joseph Tainter, _The Collapse of Complex Societies_ puts
| innovation and complexity in their larger societal context and
| cycle.
|
| - Histories of industrial R&D labs are insightful. Two of which
| I'm aware, David A. Hounshell, _Corporate Strategy: Du Pont R &D,
| 1902--1980_, and Jon Gertner, _The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and
| the Great Age of American Innovation_.
| adaisadais wrote:
| This is most excellent - lots of stuff I've not heard about nor
| read. Looking forward to checking these out this year.
|
| My personal recommendations are to read "The Innovator's Dilemma"
| by the late Clayton Christensen and "Ecclesiastes" (ESV for
| Native English speakers) by Koholet.
|
| "The Innovator's Dilemma" has had a major impact on me. Keep
| moving the ball forward and keep finding the biggest market
| despite what your current market thinks.
|
| "Ecclesiastes" is a great reminder that we will all die and it is
| good to be apart in the present. To innovate. To make things
| better regardless if we will live to see the positive impact or
| not.
|
| Both are honestly great books about life in general too.
| padobson wrote:
| Came here to mention that I thought Christensen was absent from
| the list, but thought your Ecclesiastes (which can be found in
| just about every Jewish or Christian Bible) recommendation was
| inspired.
|
| Ecclesiastes talks so much about the rhythms of life and the
| benefits of gaining knowledge and then using knowledge, the
| benefits of working hard and celebrating accomplishment. When I
| look at our various economic cycles, especially periods of
| innovation followed by periods of consolidation in tech, I can
| see a lot to draw from Ecclesiastes. I'll be pondering it more!
| zerop wrote:
| Innovation is outcome of culture of the institution (company,
| society, country, civilisations, .. ) and inclusivity in people.
| andi999 wrote:
| Which of the book elaborates on the funding of innovation by the
| pentagon due to purchase contracts.
| __ka wrote:
| Somewhat surprised there's nothing from Schumpeter. Many more
| popular thinkers drew inspiration from these two classics:
|
| 1. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy
|
| 2. Theory of Economic Development
| lhpz wrote:
| There is one very important book missing from this list:
| Diffusion of Innovation by Everett Rogers (1). Most of the
| innovation teaching in business schools today, is directly
| inspired from this book, first published in 1962. You'd be
| surprised that the fundamentals of Rogers' diffusion of
| innovations theory have not changed that much over the years but
| are still extremely useful today; only the communication channels
| have changed. The human psychology (early adopters/laggards) or
| the sociology remain the same. Most people adopt innovations only
| after they've seen the benefits in action in their close friends
| or relative circles. Hence the importance of social networks for
| the diffusion of innovations, not to be restricted to early 21st
| century Facebook style digital social networks.
|
| This theory also explains why innovators should target niche
| markets, and then expand to larger markets, and not the other way
| around. It is much easier to overcome the inevitable resistance
| to change on a specialized niche market, and then the social
| network effect will help with adoption on larger and larger
| circles.
|
| (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everett_Rogers
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