Explaining Process and Change : Approaches to Evolutionary Economics

Recently, many economists have advocated the adoption of an evolutionary perspective to better understand the permanent flux of the economy. So far, most of the work in this budding field has been confined to industrial organization research in the Schumpeterian tradition. In Explaining Process and Change, Ulrich Witt presents for the first time the potential uses of the evolutionary approach in a broad range of other fields. Witt, a leading expert in evolutionary economics, assembles essays by a number of economists whose findings might otherwise remain unavailable to North American economists. Their work offers insights into the application of evolutionary thinking to consumer theory, price theory, growth theory, industrial policy, game theory, and computer science. All of the essays focus on change and transition and the forces that create variability in the economy, as opposed to equilibrium states and the quest for optimality. Economists interested in the emerging evolutionary paradigm in economics will find Explaining Process and Change an invaluable and insightful guide to this new field. The many interdisciplinary relationships pointed out in each chapter make the book appealing to other social scientists as well.