2016/22 | LEM Working Paper Series | ||||||||||||||||
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Pursuing the Evolutionary Agenda in Economics and Management Research |
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Sidney G. Winter |
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Abstract | |||||||||||||||||
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This essay first reviews what Nelson and Winter were trying to
accomplish when they put forward An Evolutionary Theory of Economic
Change (Belknap Press, Harvard, 1982). It then does a fast-forward to
controversies and contributions in the recent past, and speculates on
where the intellectual enterprise might be headed from here. The
issues involved in the original motivations are definitely alive and
well. Aside from the review of the basic issues behind the NW project,
an important theme here is that an evolutionary approach to economics
entails a degree of engagement with the realities of business
organization and the quest for profit that has no parallel in
mainstream economics. Thus it makes sense in retrospect that the
evolutionary program has proved more influential in other research
fields, including strategic management, technology studies and
organization theory, than it is in economics proper. Recent
controversies underscore the continuing existence of a challenging
research agenda featuring the interactions among the dynamic processes
at different levels – individuals, firms and market environments.
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