Knowledge Transfers, Spillovers and Actors: The Role of Context and Social Capital

Abstract

Regional economic analysis relies heavily on the concept of knowledge spillovers to explain economic development. But this concept is too limited since it does not explain the actual transfer of knowledge. That requires looking into social networks and social capital in order to explain the flow of non-codified knowledge. This paper contributes to the literature by conceptualizing knowledge transfer and connecting it to the social network literature and the spatial dimension of social networks. The paper argues that knowledge flows, the spatial context of social networks and social capital are strongly linked.