Alfred Marshall didn't have to wait for Silicon Valley to evolve before concluding that some places are hubs of intangible knowledge. In 1890, the renowned Cambridge economist opined that “great are the advantages which people following the same skilled trade get from near neighbourhood to one another. The mysteries of the trade become no mysteries; but are as it were in the air … if one man starts a new idea, it is taken up by others and combined with suggestions of their own; and thus it becomes the source of further new ideas.” Marshall knew that where you live and work affects what you learn and what you earn. One question that economists have struggled to answer, though, is exactly how and between whom knowledge spreads.
艾尔弗雷德•马歇尔(Alfred Marshall)无需等到硅谷出现就已断定，有些地方将成为无形知识的中心。1890年，这位剑桥大学(Cambridge)的著名manbetx20客户端下载 学家认为，“从事同一种技能型行业的人，彼此从行业区附近获得的好处是巨大的。行业的秘密不再成为秘密；而似乎成了公开之事……如果某人有了一种新思想，它会得到他人的采纳，并与他人的想法结合在一起，继而萌发出更多新思想。”马歇尔知道，你生活和工作的地方，会对你所学知识和所挣工资产生影响。但manbetx20客户端下载 学家难以回答的一个问题是，知识到底是如何传播的，以及在哪些人之间传播。