We examine how the introduction of a technology that automates research tasks influences the rate and type of researchers' knowledge production. To do this, we leverage the unanticipated arrival of an automating motion-sensing research technology that occurred as the consequence of the...

General purpose technologies (GPTs) push out the production possibility frontier and are of strategic importance to managers and policymakers. While theoretical models that explain the characteristics, benefits, and approaches to create and capture value from GPTs have advanced significantly,...

There has been a great deal of speculation that machine learning might be a general purpose technology. Many other emerging technologies receive similar speculation. However, general purpose technologies are typically identified with the benefit of many years of hindsight. For managers deciding...

Teamwork is an increasingly important aspect of knowledge production. In particular, factors influencing team formation relative to the composition of expertise are crucial for both organizational performance and for informing policy. In this paper, I draw attention to technology access as a...

Understanding factors affecting the direction of innovation is a central aim of research in the economics of innovation. Progress on this topic has been inhibited by difficulties in measuring distance and movement in knowledge space. We describe a methodology that infers the mapping of the...

Innovation is fundamentally dependent on the support of research technology. Governments and organizations have been spending billions of dollars to develop research technologies such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Hadron Collider. Yet, our understanding of how specific attributes of...