Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:27:18.702Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

GENETIC, CULTURAL, AND HISTORICAL DETERMINANTS OF KNOWLEDGE CREATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2021

Erkan Gören
Erkan Gören*
Affiliation:
Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg
*
Address correspondence to: Erkan Gören, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, School of Computing Science, Business Administration, Economics, and Law (Faculty II), Institute of Economics, Building A5, 26111Oldenburg, Germany. e-mail: erkan.goeren@uni-oldenburg.de. Phone: +49 441 798 4292.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Knowledge creation has been a pivotal ingredient of endogenous growth theory to understand differences in standards of living across countries. Yet, the identification of key drivers explaining cross-country differences in knowledge creation still remains a topic of central interest in this research field. In this paper, I provide a framework to hypothesize and empirically test the persistent effects of novelty-seeking traits on cross-country differences in scientific knowledge creation. The results suggest a positive and statistically significant relationship between both outcomes that is consistent with the hypothesis that the prevalence of novelty-seeking traits in society facilitates scientific knowledge creation through beneficial human behaviors related to risk-taking and explorative behavior. The empirical findings remain qualitatively unaffected when controlling for additional historical, biogeographical, and socioeconomic factors that appear as additional important determinants in the creation of scientific knowledge in society.

Keywords

Novelty-Seeking TraitsCreative DestructionEndogenous GrowthKnowledge Creation
Type
Articles
Information
Macroeconomic Dynamics , Volume 26 , Issue 7 , October 2022 , pp. 1833 - 1890
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I thank the Editor, William A. Barnett, an Associate Editor, and a anonymous Referee for their helpful comments and suggestions that substantially improved the paper. I would also like to thank Jürgen Bitzer, Andreas Lichter, and the session participants at the Annual Conference of the Verein für Socialpolitik (VfS) 2018, University of Freiburg (im Breisgau) for useful comments and suggestions. All remaining errors are my own.

References

Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. and Robinson, J. A. (2001) The colonial origins of comparative development: An empirical investigation. The American Economic Review 91, 1369–1401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. and Robinson, J. A. (2002) Reversal of fortune: Geography and institutions in the making of the modern world income distribution. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 117, 1231–1294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aghion, P. and Howitt, P. (1992) A model of growth through creative destruction. Econometrica 60, 323–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aghion, P. and Howitt, P. (1998) Endogenous Growth Theory. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Alesina, A., Devleeschauwer, A., Easterly, W., Kurlat, S. and Wacziarg, R. (2003) Fractionalization. Journal of Economic Growth 8, 155–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Algan, Y. and Cahuc, P. (2013) Trust and growth. Annual Review of Economics 5(1), 521–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbatli, C. E., Ashraf, Q. H., Galor, O., and Klemp, M. (2020) Diversity and conflict. Econometrica 88, 727–797.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Asghari, S. V. Sanyal, S. Buchwaldt, A. Paterson, V. Jovanovic and H. H. M. Van Tol (1995) Modulation of intracellular cyclic AMP levels by different human dopamine D4 receptor variants. Journal of Neurochemistry 65, 1157–1165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ashraf, Q. and Galor, O. (2013) The ‘Out of Africa’ hypothesis, human genetic diversity, and comparative economic development. The American Economic Review 103, 1–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Basu, S. and Weil, D. N. (1998) Appropriate technology and growth. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 113, 1025–1054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benjamin, J., Li, L., Patterson, C., Greenberg, B. D., Murphy, D. L. and Hamer, D. H. (1996) Population and familial association between the D4 dopamine receptor gene and measures of novelty seeking. Nature 12, 81–84.Google ScholarPubMed
Bobb, A. J., Castellanos, F. X., Addington, A. M. and Rapoport, J. L. (2006) Molecular genetic studies of ADHD: 1991 to 2004. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 141B, 551–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonin, H., Dohmen, T., Falk, A., Huffman, D. and Sunde, U. (2007) Cross-sectional earnings risk and occupational sorting: The role of risk attitudes. Labour Economics 14(6), 926–937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, A. C. and Trivedi, P. K. (2013) Regression Analysis of Count Data. New York, 2nd ed. USA: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cann, H. M., de Toma, C., Cazes, L., Legrand, M. F., Bodmer, V. M. L. P. J., Bodmer, W. F., Bonne-Tamir, B., Cambon-Thomsen, A., Chen, Z., Chu, J., Carcassi, C., Contu, L., Du, R., Excoffier, L., Ferrara, G. B., Friedlaender, J., Groot, H., Gurwitz, D., Jenkins, T., Herrera, R. J., Kidd, X. H. J., Kidd, K. K., Langaney, A., Lin, A. A., Mehdi, S. Q., Parham, P., Piazza, A., Pistillo, M. P., Qian, Y., Shu, Q., Xu, J., Zhu, S., Weber, J. L., Greely, H. T., Feldman, M. W., Thomas, G., Dausset, J., and Cavalli-Sforza, L. L. (2002) A human genome diversity cell line panel. Science 296, 261–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carpenter, J. P., Garcia, J. R. and Lum, J. K. (2011) Dopamine receptor genes predict risk preferences, time preferences, and related economic choices. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 42, 233–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavalli-Sforza, L. L., Menozzi, P. and Piazza, A. (1994) The History and Geography of Human Genes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chabris, C. F., Hebert, B. M., Benjamin, D. J., Beauchamp, J., Cesarini, D., van der Loos, M., Johannesson, M., Magnusson, P. K. E., Lichtenstein, P., Atwood, C. S., Freese, J., Hauser, T. S., Hauser, R. M., Christakis, N. and Laibson, D. (2012) Most reported genetic associations with general intelligence are probably false positives. Psychological Science 23, 1314–1323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, C., Burton, M., Greenberger, E. and Dmitrieva, J. (1999) Population migration and the variation of Dopamine D4 Receptor (DRD4) allele frequencies around the globe. Evolution and Human Behavior 20, 309–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Civelli, O., Bunzow, J. R., Grandy, D. K., Zhou, Q. Y. and Van Tol, H. H. M. (1991) Molecular biology of the dopamine receptors. European Journal of Pharmacology: Molecular Pharmacology 207, 277–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cloninger, C. R. (1987) A systematic method for clinical description and classification of personality variants. A proposal. Archives of General Psychiatry 44, 573–588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cochran, G. and Harpending, H. (2009) The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Cohen, W. M. and Levinthal, D. A. (1990) Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly 35, 128–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, C. J. (2014) The role of lactase persistence in precolonial development. Journal of Economic Growth 19, 369–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, C. J. (2015) The natural selection of infectious disease resistance and its effect on contemporary health. The Review of Economics and Statistics 97, 742–757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dannemann, B. C. and Gören, E. (2018) The educational burden of ADHD: Evidence from student achievement test scores. University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, Working Paper No. V-408-18.Google Scholar
Desmet, K., Ortuño-Ortn, I. and Wacziarg, R. (2012) The political economy of linguistic cleavages. Journal of Development Economics 97, 322–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dohmen, T., Falk, A., Huffman, D. and Sunde, U. (2010) Are risk aversion and impatience related to cognitive ability? American Economic Review 100(3), 1238–1260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dohmen, T., Falk, A., Huffman, D., Sunde, U., Schupp, J. and Wagner, G. G. (2011) Individual risk attitudes: Measurement, determinants, and behavioral consequences. Journal of the European Economic Association 9(3), 522–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreber, A., Apicella, C. L., Eisenberg, D. T. A., Garcia, J. R., Zamore, R. S., Lum, J. K. and Campbell, B. (2009) The 7R polymorphism in the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4) is associated with financial risk taking in men. Evolution and Human Behavior 30, 85–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easterly, W. and Levine, R. (2016) The european origins of economic development. Journal of Economic Growth 21, 225–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebstein, R. P. (1997) Saga of an adventure gene: Novelty seeking, substance abuse and the Dopamine D4 Receptor (D4DR) Exon III repeat polymorphism. Molecular Psychiatry 2, 381–384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebstein, R. P., Novick, O., Umansky, R., Priel, B., Osher, Y., Blaine, D., Bennett, E. R., Nemanov, L., Katz, M. and Belmaker, R. H. (1996) Dopamine D4 Receptor (D4DR) Exon III polymorphism associated with the human personality trait of novelty seeking. Nature 12, 78–80.Google ScholarPubMed
Epper, T., Fehr, E., Fehr-Duda, H., Kreiner, C. T., Lassen, D. D., Leth-Petersen, S. and Rasmussen, G. N. (2020) Time discounting and wealth inequality. American Economic Review 110(4), 1177–1205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagerberg, J. and Srholec, M. (2008) National innovation systems, capabilities and economic development. Research Policy 37, 1417–1435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagerberg, J., Srholec, M. and Verspagen, B. (2010) Innovation and economic development. In Arrow, K. J. and Intriligator, M. D., eds., Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Chapter 20, pp. 833–872. Elsevier.Google Scholar
Falk, A., Becker, A., Dohmen, T., Enke, B., Huffman, D. and Sunde, U. (2018) Global evidence on economic preferences. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 133(4), 1645–1692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faraone, S. V., Bonvicini, C. and Scassellati, C. (2014) Biomarkers in the diagnosis of ADHD - Promising directions. Current Psychiatry Reports 16, 497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faraone, S. V., Perlis, R. H., Doyle, A. E., Smoller, J. W., Goralnick, J. J., Holmgren, M. A. and Sklar, P. (2005) Molecular genetics of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry 57, 1313–1323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feenstra, R. C., Inklaar, R. and Timmer, M. P. (2015) The next generation of the penn world table. American Economic Review 105, 3150–3182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallup, J. L., Sachs, J. D. and Mellinger, A. D. (1999) Geography and economic development. International Regional Science Review 2, 179–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galor, O. and Michalopoulos, S. (2012) Evolution and the growth process: Natural selection of entrepreneurial traits. Journal of Economic Theory 147, 759–780.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gizer, I. R., Ficks, C. and Waldman, I. D. (2009) Candidate gene studies of ADHD: A meta-analytical review. Human Genetics 126, 51–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaeser, E. L., Porta, R. L., Lopez-De-Silanes, F. and Shleifer, A. (2004) Do institutions cause growth? Journal of Economic Growth, 9, 271–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Global Mapping International (2010) World Language Mapping System, Version 16. http://worldgeodatasets.com/language/index.html.Google Scholar
Gören, E. (2014) How ethnic diversity affects economic growth. World Development 59, 275–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gören, E. (2016) The biogeographic origins of novelty-seeking traits. Evolution and Human Behavior 37, 456–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gören, E. (2017) The persistent effects of novelty-seeking traits on comparative economic development. Journal of Development Economics 126, 112–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorodnichenko, Y. and Roland, G. (2017) Culture, institutions and the wealth of nations. The Review of Economics and Statistics 99, 402–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossman, G. M. and Helpman, E. (1991) Quality ladders in the theory of growth. The Review of Economic Studies 58, 43–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hong, L. and Page, S. E. (2001) Problem solving by heterogenous agents. Journal of Economic Theory 91, 123–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hong, L. and Page, S. E. (2004) Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, 16385–16389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, P., Mrazek, D., Knapp, P. K., Steinberg, L., Pfeffer, C., Schowalter, J. and Shapiro, T. (1997) Evolution and revolution in child psychiatry: ADHD as a disorder of adaptation. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 36, 1672–1679.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jiang, Y., Chew, S. H. and Ebstein, R. P. (2013) The role of D4 receptor gene exon III polymorphisms in shaping human altruism and prosocial behavior. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kerr, W. (2008) Ethnic scientific communities and international knowledge diffusion. The Review of Economics and Statistics 90, 518–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knack, S. and Keefer, P. (1997) Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 112(4), 1251–1288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhnen, C. M. and Chiao, J. Y. (2009) Genetic determinants of financial risk taking. PLoS ONE 4, 1–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R. (1999) The quality of government. The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization 15, 222–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaHoste, G. J., Swanson, J. M., Wigal, S. B., Glabe, C., Wigal, T., King, N. and Kennedy, J. L. (1996) Dopamine D4 receptor gene polymorphism is associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Molecular Psychiatry 1, 121–124.Google ScholarPubMed
Lichter, J. B., Barr, C. L., Kennedy, J. L., Tol, H. H. V., Kidd, K. K. and Livak, K. J. (1993) A hypervariable segment in the human dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene. Human Molecular Genetics 2, 767–773.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayseless, N., Uzefovsky, F., Shalev, I., Ebstein, R. P. and Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2013) The association between creativity and 7R polymorphism in the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4). Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oak, J. N., Oldenhof, J. and Tol, H. H. V. (2000) The dopamine D4 receptor: One decade of research. European Journal of Pharmacology 405, 303–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
OECD (2002) OECD Science, Technology, and Industry Outlook 2002. OECD Publications Service. http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/industry-and-services/oecd-science-technology-and-industry-outlook-2002_sti_outlook-2002-en.Google Scholar
OECD (2015). Frascati Manual 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development, The Measurement of Scientific, Technological and Innovation Activities. OECD Publishing. http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/ science-and-technology/frascati-manual-2015_9789264239012-en, Paris.Google Scholar
Paterson, A. D., Sunohara, G. A. and Kennedy, J. L. (1999) Dopamine D4 receptor gene: Novelty or nonsense? Neuropsychopharmacology 21, 3–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., Knopik, V. S. and Neiderhiser, J. M. (2013) Behavioral Genetics. New York: Worth Publishers.Google Scholar
Putterman, L. and Weil, D. N. (2010) Post-1500 population flows and the long run determinants of economic growth and inequality. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 125, 1627–1682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romer, P. M. (1990) Endogenous technological change. Journal of Political Economy 98, 71–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sachs, J. D. and Warner, A. M. (2001) The curse of natural resources. European Economic Review 45, 827–838.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sihvonen, J. and Vähämaa, S. (2015) Business research in the nordic countries: An analysis of research output across countries, disciplines, and institutions. Nordic Journal of Business 64, 266–296.Google Scholar
Spolaore, E. and Wacziarg, R. (2009) The diffusion of development. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124, 469–529.Google Scholar
Spolaore, E. and Wacziarg, R. (2012) The long-term barriers to the international diffusion of innovations. National Bureau of Economic Research, 11–46.Google Scholar
Sutter, M., Kocher, M. G., Glätzle-Rützler, D. and Trautmann, S. T. (2013) Impatience and uncertainty: Experimental decisions predict adolescents’ field behavior. American Economic Review 103(1), 510–531.Google Scholar
Swanson, J., Oosterlaan, J., Murias, M., Schuck, S., Flodman, P., Spence, M. A., Wasdell, M., Ding, Y., Chi, H.-C., Smith, M., Mann, M., Carlson, C., Kennedy, J. L., Sergeant, J. A., Leung, P., Zhangi, Y.-P., Sadeh, A., Chen, C., Whalen, C. K., Babb, K. A., Moyzis, R. and Posner, M. I. (2000) Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder children with a 7-repeat allele of the dopamine receptor D4 gene have extreme behavior but normal performance on critical neuropsychological tests of attention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97, 4754–4759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Tol, H. H. M., Bunzow, J. R., Guan, H.-C., Sunahara, R. K., Seeman, P., Niznik, H. B. and Civelli, O. (1991) Cloning of the gene for a human dopamine D4 receptor with high affinity for the antipsychotic clozapine. Nature 350, 610–614.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Tol, H. H. M., Wu, C. M., Guan, H.-C., Ohara, K., Bunzow, J. R., Civelli, O., Kennedy, J., Seeman, P., Niznik, H. B. and Jovanovic, V. (1992) Multiple dopamine D4 receptor variants in the human population. Nature 358, 149–152.Google ScholarPubMed
Viscusi, W. K. and Hersch, J. (2001) Cigarette smokers as job risk takers. Review of Economics and Statistics 83(2), 269–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, E., Ding, Y.-C., Flodman, P., Kidd, J. R., Kidd, K. K., Grady, D. L., Ryder, O. A., Spence, M. A., Swanson, J. M. and Moyzis, R. K. (2004) The genetic architecture of selection at the human dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene locus. American Journal of Human Genetics 74, 931–944.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weber, M. (1958) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.Google Scholar
Wu, J., Xiao, H., Sun, H., Zou, L., and Zhu, L.-Q. (2012) Role of dopamine receptors in ADHD: A systematic meta-analysis. Molecular Neurobiology 45, 605–620.Google ScholarPubMed