Evolution and Economic Complexity

by J. Stanley Metcalfe (Editor), John Foster (Editor)

Overview

Dedicated to the goal of furthering evolutionary economic analysis, this book provides a coherent scientific approach to deal with the real world of continual change in the economic system.

Expansive in its scope, this book ranges from abstract discussions of ontology, analysis and theory to more practical discussions on how we can operationalize notions such as 'capabilities' from what we understand as 'knowledge'. Simulation techniques and empirical case studies are also used.

Sharpening the focus of the relationship between economic evolution and economic complexity, the book will be of great interest to academics, students and researchers of evolutionary economics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781843765264
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	12/27/2004
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.96(d)

About the Author

Edited by the late J. Stanley Metcalfe, formerly Emeritus Professor, University of Manchester, UK and John Foster, Professor of Economics and Head, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia

Table of Contents

Contents:

Introduction

PART I: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
1. Evolutionary Foundations of Economics
Kurt Dopfer and Jason Potts

2. On the Methodology of Assessing Agent-Based Evolutionary Models in the Social Sciences
Paul Ormerod and Bridget Rosewell

3. What do Firms Learn? Capabilities, Distribution and the Division of Labour
Paolo Ramazzotti

4. Dynamic Capabilities, Tacit Knowledge and Absorption
Peter Hall

PART II: MODELLING COMPLEXITY
5. The Complexity of Structure, Strategy and Decision Making
Peter M. Allen

6. Knowledges, Specialization and Economic Evolution: Modelling the Evolving Division of Human Time
Esben Sloth Andersen

PART III: EMPIRICAL PERSPECTIVES
7. Erring to be Right: The Paradox of Error in the Foundation of Probability in Economics
Francisco Louçã

8. Technological and Economic Mobility in Large German Manufacturing Firms
Uwe Cantner and Jens J. Krüger

9. A Conceptual Framework to Model Long-run Qualitative Change in the Energy System
Andreas Pyka, Bernd Ebersberger and Horst Hanusch

Index

Editorial Reviews

‘With this important collection of fine new papers, Foster and Metcalfe have brought together another volume that will make an impact on the newly unfolding science-of-complexity approach to economics. Ranging from the theoretical foundations to modeling tools and concrete empirical applications, the contributions cover all relevant areas. The reader is being offered exciting new views on variety generating and selecting mechanisms in the economy and their role for technological and commercial change.’

Ulrich Witt

‘This book provides a useful introduction to evolutionary economics.’

Adam Gifford