The Transfer of Economic Knowledge

This innovative book sheds new light on the various transfer processes of economic knowledge from the academic environment to the outside world. The internationally acclaimed group of authors considers the transfer of knowledge in the teaching of economics, through public policy advice, and the spread of ideas across disciplinary boundaries.

The economics profession is mainly concerned with the production of economic knowledge rather than the transfer of this knowledge outside the academic economics environment. The process of the production of knowledge and its final use has not been thoroughly investigated, and so relatively little is known about how this knowledge benefits public policy, private sector decisionmaking and the transfer of ideas across the social sciences. The leading contributors, including James M. Buchanan, Bob Coates, Bruno S. Frey, Heinz Konig, Anne Krueger and Charles Wyplosz, examine the transfer of knowledge from an interdisciplinary perspective addressing psychological, sociological and cultural issues. They also look at the theoretical analysis of the transfer of economic knowledge, focusing on public choice and political economy interpretations of economic policy advice, as well as institutional and management issues of policy advice. Finally they consider the challenges of teaching economics and explore the possibility of applying the new media for transferring economic knowledge.

Edited by Ernst Mohr, former Professor of Economics, University of St Gallen, Switzerland