Paradigm depletion, knowledge production and research effort

Joao R. Faria (1) , Damien Besancenot (2) , Andréas J. Novak (3)

1 IPED - Institute for Policy and Economic Development
2 CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord (ancienne affiliation)
3 Department of Business Administration

This paper deals with two elements of Thomas Kuhn (1962) ideas regarding paradigm: Depletion and resiliency. The possibility of paradigm depletion taking resilience into account, given the hierarchy among scientists, is modeled as a Stackelberg differential game between editors [leaders] and authors [followers]. A number of results emerge from the model: i) Paradigm depletion can be optimal; ii) The optimal editor's shadow price of potential knowledge must be non-positive, if it is positive, the editor is just a keeper of the orthodoxy rather than a scientist; iii) Editor's and/or researcher's impatience is always bad for science; iv) In equilibrium editor's behavior does not matter for optimal research effort, while only editor's behavior matter for the paradigm.

Mots clés: Paradigm; Economics of science; Research effort

Domaines: Economies et finances

Joao R. Faria, Damien Besancenot, Andréas J. Novak. Paradigm depletion, knowledge production and research effort. 2009. ⟨halshs-00447302⟩