The role of diversity and tolerance in economic development
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AbstractThis paper presents an evolutionary model of industry development, and uses simulations to investigation the role of diversity and heterogeneity in firms’ behaviour, and hence industrial development. The simulations suggest that economic growth is increased with greater variety, in the sense of the evolutionary process approaching the equilibrium faster and also, in the long run, moving faster from one equilibrium to a new, more advanced, equilibrium. This occurs due to higher variety caused by a more tolerant environment, and due to the higher probability of emergence of radical innovations.