Are Ideas Being Fished Out?

34 Pages Posted: 13 Sep 2022

See all articles by Leonardo Kluppel

Leonardo Kluppel

Ohio State University (OSU) - Fisher College of Business

Anne Marie Knott

Washington University in St. Louis - John M. Olin Business School

Date Written: July 26, 2022

Abstract

This paper examines whether declining research productivity can be explained by fishing out—is the production of new knowledge decreasing in the level of existing knowledge? We estimate the knowledge production function for U.S. firms and find instead that knowledge production is increasing in the knowledge stock. This is reinforced by the observations that maximum research productivity across firms is increasing over time, and that research productivity year effects continue to exhibit a decline after modeling contributions from knowledge and research labor. Given that fishing out appears unable to explain the decline in research productivity, we offer preliminary evidence of contingent factors that might contribute to the decline.

Keywords: Endogenous growth, research productivity, fishing out

JEL Classification: D24, E23, O30, 047

Suggested Citation

Kluppel, Leonardo and Knott, Anne Marie, Are Ideas Being Fished Out? (July 26, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4188857 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4188857

Leonardo Kluppel

Ohio State University (OSU) - Fisher College of Business ( email )

2100 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1144
United States

Anne Marie Knott (Contact Author)

Washington University in St. Louis - John M. Olin Business School ( email )

One Brookings Drive
Campus Box 1156
St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
United States

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