New Things Under the Sun is a living literature review about academic research on the economics of innovation, science of science, creativity, and discovery, written by me, Matt Clancy. As the tagline says, it aims to be a guide to “what academia knows* about innovation.” The *asterisk is an admission that the site falls short of this goal: academic knowledge is always provisional and contested, and this is just one (incomplete) perspective on it. Incomplete and provisional as it is, this knowledge is still quite valuable.
The site is a growing collection of articles which primarily emphasize “claims” about innovation rather than individual academic studies. A typical article will be 1,000-4,000 words reviewing a curated set of evidence from multiple academic papers for or against the claim. These “claim” articles are updated as the academic literature evolves (with a record of all changes to an article preserved). There are also a smaller number of “argument” articles which advance broader arguments about innovation, built up from claims.
New Things Under the Sun is written to be accessible to all interested readers, especially those working in other academic fields, in the policy world, and the private sector. At the same time, I strive to provide enough depth for readers to understand the methods and evidence for claims made.
I am an assistant teaching professor in the department of economics at Iowa State University and a Progress Studies Fellow at Emergent Ventures. At Iowa State University, I teach a course on the economics of innovation, among other things. Prior to that, I was a research economist, working on science and technology policy at the United States Department of Agriculture. I have a PhD in economics from Iowa State University, an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics, and a Diploma in Economics from the University of Cambridge. I am a regular peer reviewer for journals such as Research Policy and PLOSone and have published peerreviewedacademicwork in a variety of venues. I have also published policy reports for think tanks like the Progressive Policy Institute and The Entrepreneur Network. I’ve also written for the general public in forums such as Works in Progress, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and City Journal.
Most importantly, I love reading and writing about this stuff. I hope that if you look around this site you’ll be convinced I’m a trustworthy guide to this world.
Who supports this project?
During 2021, a grant from Emergent Ventures at the Mercatus Center provides funding for me to work part-time on this project.
You missed a paper; you made an error
Please email me (mattclancy at hey dot com). This is a living literature review, and articles are regularly updated. I will respond promptly where corrections are necessary. However, if you are suggesting I should add an additional paper, I will probably move more slowly, as I have a long queue of updates. More generally, I cannot guarantee I will always add articles that might be relevant. To keep things short and accessible, I do exercise some curatorial discretion. I won’t ever misrepresent the evidence (as I see it), but I’m not trying to write a comprehensive literature review for each claim.
In what order do I read things?
There is no fixed order. Here are a few suggestions for ways to explore this site:
Go to the claims page and start reading something that looks interesting
Read an argument and dive deeper into any underlying claims
Check out the backlog of newsletters to see what’s been added in the last few weeks
Search for an author or article title and see if and how it’s been covered
