On Markets in Knowledge

Two conditions must be met in order for specialised markets in knowledge to emerge: (i) The alienation of knowledge from its context which allows knowledge to become a commoditisable product that can be bought and sold and transferred thereafter to different uses. Property rights are sufficient to such alienation and commoditisation. (ii) The establishment of a reasonable volume of exchange transactions in that commodified knowledge, which in turn requires cross sectoral application and horizontal integration. Institutional structures facilitate the continuance of exchanges and are sufficient to the second condition. The second condition is more stringent than the first. Empirical evidence suggests that technological convergence may be the specific and important historical occurrence when markets in technological knowledge emerge. Technological convergence meant that there were areas where knowledge could be transferred across industries, and in that process of transference knowledge also became more generic and abstract. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1997Specialisation, vertical disintegration, market emergence, codified and tacit knowledge, technological convergence,