Yah I think you're right. To be fair, the next paragraph begins
Quote:
In practice, the economy doesn’t quite work in such a stylized manner.
I think to some extent he was just trying to situate the topic in an intellectual history, i.e. its importance in Marx.
On a different topic, I also really like this one:
Bar Talk: Informal Social Interactions, Alcohol Prohibition, and Invention
Quote:
What is the role of informal social interactions in invention? Scholars in many different fields recognize that interpersonal communication is important for the creation of new ideas, from urban economics and economic growth to management and sociology. But quantifying the importance of informal interactions on the rate and direction of inventive activity, let alone understanding why they are important or how informal social networks respond to shocks, has proven difficult. As Breschi and Lissoni (2009, p. 442) put it, “the role of social ties as carriers of localized knowledge spillovers has been more often assumed than demonstrated.” In this paper, I investigate a massive disruption of social networks from U.S. history: alcohol prohibition.
The enactment of state-level prohibition laws differentially treatedcounties depending on whether those counties were wet or dry prior to prohibition. After the imposition of state-level prohibition, previously wet counties had 8-18% fewerpatents per year relative to consistently dry counties. The effect was largest in the first three years after the imposition of prohibition and rebounds thereafter. The effect was smaller for groups that were less likely to frequent saloons, namely women and particular ethnic groups. Next, I use the imposition of prohibition to document the sensitivity of collaboration patterns to shocks to the informal social network. As individuals rebuilt their networks following prohibition, they connected with new individuals and patented in new technology classes. Thus, while prohibition had only a temporary effect on the rate of invention, it had a lasting effect on the direction of inventive activity.
It reminds me of Becker talking about the value of finding interesting data sets. I can't wait to see what novel ways people find in the future to measure effects of growth in social media.