Affiliation:
1. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science , Berlin
2. Max Planck Institute Jena and Griffith Business School , Griffith University
Abstract
Abstract
This article discusses the challenges raised by the inclusion of evolutionary elements in the theories of Carl Menger, Joseph Schumpeter, and Friedrich Hayek. Each adopted an idiosyncratic position in terms of method of inquiry, focus, and general message. The breadth of the topics and phenomena they cover testifies to the great variety of interpretations and potential uses of evolutionary concepts in economics. Menger, who made no reference to Darwin’s theory, advanced an “organic” view of the emergence of social institutions. Schumpeter elaborated an original theory of industrial development based on the recurrent emergence and dissemination of innovations. Hayek adopted the biological notion of group selection and made it the central element in his theory of cultural evolution and the rise of the free market. The chapter concludes with a preliminary evaluation of the possible role that evolutionary theorizing might play in the future development of Austrian economics.
Reference69 articles.
1. Andersen, S. 2009. Schumpeter’s Evolutionary Economics. London: Anthem Press.
2. Beck, N. 2012. “Be Fruitful and Multiply: Growth, Reason and Cultural Group Selection in Hayek and Darwin.” Biological Theory 6, no. 4: 413–423.
3. Birdzell, L. E., and N. Rosenberg. 1986. How the West Grew Rich: The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World. New York: Basic Books.
4. Boettke P. J. 1990. “The Theory of Spontaneous Order and Cultural Evolution in the Social Theory of F. A. Hayek.” Cultural Dynamics 3, no. 1: 61–83.10.1177/092137409000300105
5. Boettke, P. J., ed. 1994. The Elgar Companion to Austrian Economics. Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar.10.4337/9780857934680
Cited by
5 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献