John Cochrane is not the first person to think of the economy as the transfer, flow and storage of knowledge.

See this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Information-Grows-Evolution-Econo...

The author of this book not only thinks about the economy in terms of knowledge but he relates it to information theory and entropy.

Why Information Grows is probably the best one I read this year.

It's fairly ambitious and sets out to link information theory, the emergence of life, evolution and economic growth all in one coherent story. It doesn't quite hit the mark as it becomes a bit too abstract towards the end, but the first 3 chapters are the best story of how information theory fits into thermodynamics and the emergence of life. It's also the best summary of Ilya Prigogine's work I've read (including, ironically, Prigogine's own books)

http://www.amazon.ca/Why-Information-Grows-Evolution-Economi...