danish research unit for industrial dynamics druid working paper no ...

7PrefaceWe are happy to integrate international scholars in the DRUID network and to publish theircontributions in the DRUID working paper series. This is especially so when papersanalyze phenomena that are at the core of research programme of DRUID.A common concern for the programme as a whole is the relationship between knowledgecreation and economic development. Learning is regarded as a process that is fundamentalfor the performance of firms, networks and national systems of innovation. To betterunderstand what is learnt, how and by whom is fundamental for making progress in thisrespect. This paper by Natalie Lazaric and Luigi Marengo makes an important contributionin this respect. The focus is on learning in connection with technology agreements betweenfirms from respectively the automobile sector and the robotics sector.Distinctions are made between different kinds of knowledge in terms of degree ofcodification, generality and centrality and it is shown that these factors have an impact onhow and to what degree learning takes place. The paper also demonstrates the limits oftransaction cost analysis when it comes to explain technological agreements.We hope to be able to bring more contributions of this kind where the analysis of learningand knowledge is concrete and empirically based. A key to make economics more relevantis to develop a better understanding of the economics of knowledge-creation and of thelearning economy.Bengt-Åke Lundvall