Re-scaling the economic geography of knowledge and information: constructing life assurance markets

Abstract

This paper examines the geography of economic knowledge through research on ‘fields-of-learning’ within financial services. The paper argues that the current interest in knowledge and information has its roots in the concept of the learning economy and debates around globalisation and localisation. By exploring the way in which knowledge has been mobilised and conceptualised by theorists writing from each of these perspectives the paper argues that our understanding of the geography of economic knowledge is in danger of becoming fixed around a polarised local-tacit/global-explicit understanding of knowledge. With the aid of Michael Polanyi’s theory of tacit knowing, and the work of Bruno Latour I offer an alternative account whereby geographies are constructed and do not emerge merely as a consequence of the perceived properties of tacit or explicit dimensions of knowledge. These arguments are illustrated through an examination of some of the knowledge networks which constitute the marketing and product development process within the life assurance industry.