Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies
An information-theoretic view of economic development and growth
"Products are the physical embodiment of knowledge."
— César Hidalgo
My Review
Hidalgo reframes economic growth as information growth - which connects directly to biological concepts of information storage in DNA and cultural transmission. His work on economic complexity provides tools for understanding why some organizations can produce certain outputs and others cannot.
Why It Matters
Hidalgo reframes economic growth as information growth - which connects directly to biological concepts of information storage in DNA and cultural transmission. His work on economic complexity provides tools for understanding why some organizations can produce certain outputs and others cannot.
Key Ideas
- Economic growth is the growth of information embodied in products
- Products are 'crystallized imagination' - information made physical
- Know-how (tacit knowledge) is harder to transfer than information
- Economic complexity predicts future economic growth
How It Connects to This Framework
Book 5 (Communication & Signaling) and the concept of information flow throughout the framework. Hidalgo's emphasis on embodied knowledge connects to organizational learning and institutional memory.
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The full Biology of Business book explores these concepts in depth with practical frameworks.