Modern Evolutionary Economics: An Overview

Description

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.

Richard R. Nelson is Professor Emeritus at Columbia University. He served as a research economist and analyst at the Rand Corporation and the US President's Council of Economic Advisors. His most cited publications include his book with Sidney Winter, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change (1982), The Moon and the Ghetto (1977), and National Innovation Systems (1993). He has received the Honda Prize, the Tinbergen Award, the Leontief Award, and the Veblen-Commons award for his research, and has been awarded an honorary degree by several universities. Giovanni Dosi is Professor of Economics and director of the Institute of Economics at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, and serves as Director of the Industrial Policy and Intellectual Property Rights Task Forces at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University. Professor Dosi is a continental Europe editor of the journal Industrial and Corporate Change. A selection of his works has been published as Innovation, Organization and Economic Dynamics (2000) and Economic Organization, Industrial Dynamics and Development (2012). Constance E. Helfat is the J. Brian Quinn Professor in Technology and Strategy at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. She has published widely in academic journals and books, and co-authored Dynamic Capabilities: Understanding Strategic Change in Organizations (2007). She is a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society, and has received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Technology and Innovation Management Division of the Academy of Management, the Viipuri Prize, and an honorary degree. She currently serves as co-editor of the Strategic Management Journal. Andreas Pyka is a Professor at the Universitat Hohenheim, Stuttgart, where he has held the chair for innovation economics since April 2009. His fields of research are neo-Shcumpeterian economics and evolutionary economics with a special emphasis on numerical techniques of analysing dynamic processes of qualitative change and structural development. He has published numerous articles and chapters on these subjects. Pier Paolo Saviotti is a Visiting Research Fellow in Innovation studies at Copernicus Institute, Faculty of Geosciences, Universiteit Utrecht. He is author of several publications about the economics of innovation, including Technological Evolution, Variety and the Economy (1996), which was awarded the 1997 Gunnar Myrdal Prize of the European Association of Evolutionary Political Economics (EAEPE). He is a member of the European Association of Evolutionary Political Economics (EAEPE), of the Lisbon Civic Forum and is Vice President of the International Schumpeter Society. Keun Lee is a Professor of Economics at the Seoul National University. He has been awarded the 2014 Schumpeter Prize for his monograph on Schumpeterian Analysis of Economic Catch-up: Knowledge, Path-creation and the Middle Income Trap (Cambridge, 2013). He is now the President of the International Schumpeter Society, a member of the Committee for Development Policy of UN, an editor of Research Policy, a council member of the World Economic Forum, and a member of the governing board of Globelics. Kurt Dopfer is a Professor at the Department of Economics, Universitat St Gallen, Switzerland, where he is also Chair of International Economics and Development Theory, Co-director of the Institute of Economics, a member of the University Senate, Emeritus, and a Researcher for the Swiss National Science Foundation. He has published several books and numerous articles in twelve languages and has been a member of the editorial board of several journals, including the Journal of Evolutionary Economics. Franco Malerba is Full Professor of Applied Economics and President of ICRIOS, Bocconi University. He has published 15 books internationally, including Sectoral Systems of Innovation (Cambridge, 2004) and Innovation and the Evolution of Industries (Cambridge, 2016). He is among the Editors of Industrial and Corporate Change, the Advisory Editors of Research Policy, and Associate Editors of the Journal of Evolutionary Economics. Sidney G. Winter is the Deloitte and Touche Professor of Management, Emeritus, at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change (1982, with Richard Nelson), and of many articles in scholarly journals and symposia. His honours include the 2015 Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research.

'An excellent summary of what has been achieved in the field of evolutionary economics. I would hope that this book would be read by scholars steeped in 'neoclassical' economics and make them appreciate the power and potential of this scholarship.' Joel Mokyr, Northwestern University, Illinois 'The publication of this clear and comprehensive introduction to the evolutionary dynamics of modern capitalism could not be more timely. The nature, causes and consequences of economic change are at the heart of current debates about the nature of capitalism, its virtues and vices locally, nationally and globally. This work draws on a wealth of economic thinking, old and new, to elucidate the primary role of innovation to the economic process and I can think of no better introduction to the pervasive and incessant role of human creativity to the operation of capitalism as an ordered but far from equilibrium system.' J. S. Metcalfe, Emeritus Professor, University of Manchester 'Nelson and Winter's 1982 book on evolutionary economics was one of the most influential economic publications of recent decades, with an immense impact on neighbouring social sciences. Now, 35 years on, Nelson and other leading scholars examine how, in a rapidly changing world, evolutionary economics helps us understand the role of technological advance, the evolution of firm capabilities and behaviour, the nature of Schumpeterian competition and industrial dynamics, long-run economic development and the process of 'catching up' by developing economics. These analyses, along with the challenges set out in the final chapter, provide the framework for the continuing development of evolutionary economics over coming decades.' Ben Martin, University of Sussex