An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change

An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change
Author: Richard R. Nelson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 456
Release: 1985-10-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780674041431

This book contains the most sustained and serious attack on mainstream, neoclassical economics in more than forty years. Nelson and Winter focus their critique on the basic question of how firms and industries change overtime. They marshal significant objections to the fundamental neoclassical assumptions of profit maximization and market equilibrium, which they find ineffective in the analysis of technological innovation and the dynamics of competition among firms. To replace these assumptions, they borrow from biology the concept of natural selection to construct a precise and detailed evolutionary theory of business behavior. They grant that films are motivated by profit and engage in search for ways of improving profits, but they do not consider them to be profit maximizing. Likewise, they emphasize the tendency for the more profitable firms to drive the less profitable ones out of business, but they do not focus their analysis on hypothetical states of industry equilibrium. The results of their new paradigm and analytical framework are impressive. Not only have they been able to develop more coherent and powerful models of competitive firm dynamics under conditions of growth and technological change, but their approach is compatible with findings in psychology and other social sciences. Finally, their work has important implications for welfare economics and for government policy toward industry.

The Evolution of Economic Thought

The Evolution of Economic Thought
Author: Stanley L. Brue
Publisher: Thomson South-Western
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2013
Genre: Economics
ISBN: 9781133434900

This textbook presents the history of economics and the philosophies that drive the economic way of thinking. It explains the ideas of the great economic thinkers and their logical connections to the world of today and tomorrow.

The Evolution of Economic Ideas

The Evolution of Economic Ideas
Author: Phyllis Deane
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 1978-10-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521293150

An introduction to the history of economics for undergraduate students. Puts some of the current theoretical controversies into long-term perspective by tracing their historical antecedents and parallels.

The General Theory of Economic Evolution

The General Theory of Economic Evolution
Author: Kurt Dopfer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 153
Release: 2007-09-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134466870

The first book to chart the development of the field of evolutionary economics, this book provides an integrated generic framework to define the rules of an economic system; how they are coordinated and the causes and consequences of their change. Packed with pedagogical features including essay and tutorial questions, case studies and an extensive bibliography, this book: proposes a new analytic framework for the study of the nature and causes of long run economic growth and development in market systems analyzes the foundations of the neoclassical tradition, before developing a thesis through micro, meso and macro domains drawing conclusions as to what can be learned from the point of view of policy analysis focuses on an open-systems analytical framework and successfully formulates and refines the analytical foundations of a new general theory of economic evolution. This volume is essential reading for scholars and students of economic evolution and as well as for anyone who seeks to better understand the complex evolutionary nature of the structure and dynamics of the knowledge-based economy in today’s society.

Economic Evolution and Revolution in Historical Time

Economic Evolution and Revolution in Historical Time
Author: Paul W. Rhode
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 703
Release: 2011-01-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0804777624

This book challenges the static, ahistorical models on which Economics continues to rely. These models presume that markets operate on a "frictionless" plane where abstract forces play out independent of their institutional and spatial contexts, and of the influences of the past. In reality, at any point in time exogenous factors are themselves outcomes of complex historical processes. They are shaped by institutional and spatial contexts, which are "carriers of history," including past economic dynamics and market outcomes. To examine the connections between gradual, evolutionary change and more dramatic, revolutionary shifts the text takes on a wide array of historically salient economic questions—ranging from how formative, European encounters reconfigured the political economies of indigenous populations in Africa, the Americas, and Australia to how the rise and fall of the New Deal order reconfigured labor market institutions and outcomes in the twentieth century United States. These explorations are joined by a common focus on formative institutions, spatial structures, and market processes. Through historically informed economic analyses, contributors recognize the myriad interdependencies among these three frames, as well as their distinct logics and temporal rhythms.

The Evolution of Economies

The Evolution of Economies
Author: Patrick Spread
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 349
Release: 2015-12-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317303318

It is clear even to casual observation that economies evolve from year to year and over centuries. Yet mainstream economic theory assumes that economies always move towards equilibrium. One consequence of this is that mainstream theory is unable to deal with economic history. The Evolution of Economies provides a clear account of how economies evolve under a process of support-bargaining and money-bargaining. Both support-bargaining and money-bargaining are situation-related - people determine their interests and actions by reference to their present circumstances. This gives the bargaining system a natural evolutionary dynamic. Societies evolve from situation to situation. Historical change follows this evolutionary course. A central chapter of the book applies the new theory in a re-evaluation of the industrial revolution in Britain, showing how specialist money-bargaining agencies, in the form of companies, evolved profitable formats and displaced landowners as the leading sources of employment and economic necessities. Companies took advantage of the evolution of technology to establish effective formats. The book also seeks to establish how it came about that a ‘mainstream’ theory was developed that is so wildly at odds with the observable features of economic history and economic exchange. Theory-making is described as a process of ‘intellectual support-bargaining’ in which theory is shaped to the interests of its makers. The work of major classical and neoclassical economists is contested as incompatible with the idea of an evolving money-bargaining system. The book reviews attempts to derive an evolutionary economic theory from Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Neoclassical economic theory has had enormous influence on the governance of societies, principally through its theoretical endorsement of the benefits of ‘free markets’. An evolutionary account of economic processes should change the basis of debate. The theory presented here will be of interest immediately to all economists, whether evolutionary, heterodox or neoclassical. It will facilitate the work of economic historians, who complain that current theory gives no guidance for their historical investigations. Beyond the confines of professional theory-making, many will find it a revelatory response to questions that have hitherto gone unanswered.

The Evolution of Economic Institutions

The Evolution of Economic Institutions
Author: Geoffrey Martin Hodgson
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1847207030

This volume documents in a unique manner the momentum the institutionalist, evolutionary research agenda has regained over the past two decades. The thought-provoking contributions come from prominent authors with a rather heterogeneous theoretical background. Nonetheless, they all convene in elaborating on issues that have always been at the core of the institutionalist agenda and show how these issues relate to cutting edge research in modern economics. Ulrich Witt, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany This excellent EAEPE Reader brings together a range of perspectives on the role of institutions in economics. It is very well structured, with parts on microeconomics, macroeconomics, markets and economic evolution. Each part contains chapters written by renowned experts in their respective fields and there is an authoritative introductory chapter by the editor. This Reader is invaluable for economics students and academic economists wishing to better understand how institutions and individual behaviours interact in the economic system. Much of standard economic analysis either ignores institutions or makes overly restrictive assumptions about them the authors in this book show, persuasively, that economics, without an adequate treatment of institutions and institutional change, is of very little scientific worth. John Foster, The University of Queensland, Australia This is a great set of essays. To get the richness they contain, the reader must be already familiar with the broad orientation of the literature on economic institutions. Given that background, I can think of no collection or essays that frame, illuminate, and probe modern institutional economics as well as does this set. Geoffrey Hodgson, who chose the collection, and the authors of the essays, are to be congratulated and thanked. Richard R. Nelson, Columbia University, US It is now widely acknowledged that institutions are a crucial factor in economic performance. Major developments have been made in our understanding of the nature and evolution of economic institutions in the last few years. This book brings together some key contributions in this area by leading internationally renowned scholars including Paul A. David, Christopher Freeman, Alan P. Kirman, Jan Kregel, Brian J. Loasby, J. Stanley Metcalfe, Bart Nooteboom and Ugo Pagano. This essential reader covers topics such as the relationship between institutions and individuals, institutions and economic development, the nature and role of markets, and the theory of institutional evolution. The book not only outlines cutting-edge developments in the field but also indicates key directions of future research for institutional and evolutionary economics. Vital reading on one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing areas of research today, The Evolution of Economic Institutions will be of great interest to researchers, students and lecturers in economics and business studies.

The Evolution of Economic and Innovation Systems

The Evolution of Economic and Innovation Systems
Author: Andreas Pyka
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 637
Release: 2015-03-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319132997

This book is at the cutting edge of the ongoing ‘neo-Schumpeterian’ research program that investigates how economic growth and its fluctuation can be understood as the outcome of a historical process of economic evolution. Much of modern evolutionary economics has relied upon biological analogy, especially about natural selection. Although this is valid and useful, evolutionary economists have, increasingly, begun to build their analytical representations of economic evolution on understandings derived from complex systems science. In this book, the fact that economic systems are, necessarily, complex adaptive systems is explored, both theoretically and empirically, in a range of contexts. Throughout, there is a primary focus upon the interconnected processes of innovation and entrepreneurship, which are the ultimate sources of all economic growth. Twenty two chapters are provided by renowned experts in the related fields of evolutionary economics and the economics of innovation.

Modern Evolutionary Economics

Modern Evolutionary Economics
Author: Richard R. Nelson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2018-05-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1108660789

Evolutionary economics sees the economy as always in motion with change being driven largely by continuing innovation. This approach to economics, heavily influenced by the work of Joseph Schumpeter, saw a revival as an alternative way of thinking about economic advancement as a result of Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter's seminal book, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, first published in 1982. In this long-awaited follow-up, Nelson is joined by leading figures in the field of evolutionary economics, reviewing in detail how this perspective has been manifest in various areas of economic inquiry where evolutionary economists have been active. Providing the perfect overview for interested economists and social scientists, readers will learn how in each of the diverse fields featured, evolutionary economics has enabled an improved understanding of how and why economic progress occurs.

The Evolution of Economic Ideas and Systems

The Evolution of Economic Ideas and Systems
Author: Geoffrey Schneider
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2018-12-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0429678886

In order to fully understand the evolution and future growth of economic systems, we must draw on the lessons of economic history. The 2008 Financial Crisis, for example, mirrored past economic meltdowns with uncanny accuracy. Just like the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s, it featured deregulated lenders taking incredible risks with other people’s money. Historical analysis is crucial to understanding trends and patterns that can help us predict the future. This text presents a ground-breaking, pluralistic introduction to economic history and the history of economic thought. Tracing the development of economic systems and economic thought, the text introduces students to the story from ancient times to contemporary capitalism, and also its critics. Focusing in particular on Smith, Marx, Veblen, and Keynes, the text encourages students to consider which ideas and systems are still relevant in the modern world. This book can be used as a standalone text for relevant classes or as a supplement in any principles course.