The future of evolutionary economics: why the modalities of explanation matter

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
ULRICH WITT
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Evolutionary Economics ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Paradigmatic Shift ◽  
The Future ◽  
Darwinian Paradigm

Abstract:Far from inspiring that paradigmatic shift in economics that was envisioned by its early proponents, ‘evolutionary’ economics today represents a patchwork of unconnected theories and topics. In other disciplines, evolutionary thinking has induced a paradigm shift, resulting from the adoption of the Darwinian paradigm extended by hypotheses about cultural evolution. Concerning economics, however, even a preliminary discourse on the potential of this paradigm for future theorizing remains controversial. The present paper therefore focuses on the methodological implications of the paradigm. It is shown that hitherto unnoticed common ground can be identified underlying the diversity of approaches to evolutionary economics. It rests in the modalities of causal explanations germane to the Darwinian paradigm. Understanding these modalities also makes it possible to distinguish evolutionary from non-evolutionary research irrespective of the specific theories and topics concerned. The argument is illustrated for the exemplary case of institutional economics.

The future of evolutionary economics is in a vision from the past

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. STOELHORST
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Evolutionary Economics ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Mainstream Economics ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future

AbstractThis essay comments on discussions of the future of evolutionary economics by Winter (2014) and Witt (2014). I agree with their assessment of evolutionary economics as a theoretically fragmented field that has had little success in effecting a paradigm shift in mainstream economics. However, I question if such a paradigm shift should be the primary goal of evolutionary economists. I argue that evolutionary economists could increase their impact if they would be willing and able to recast themselves as evolutionary social scientists. This was the vision for economics that Veblen held out more than a century ago. I lay out the theoretical building blocks for realizing this vision available today.

Introduction to the special issue on the future of institutional and evolutionary economics

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEOFFREY M. HODGSON ◽  
J. W. STOELHORST
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Evolutionary Economics ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Common

Abstract:This special issue of the Journal of Institutional Economics on the future of institutional and evolutionary economics consists of this introduction, four full essays, and two sizeable comments. Ménard and Shirley (2014) and Ménard (2014) discuss the future of the new institutional economics, and their two essays are followed by a reflection by Hodgson. Winter (2014) and Witt (2014) discuss the future of evolutionary economics, and their essays are followed by a comment by Stoelhorst. Here, we introduce these essays and comments by putting them in a broader historical perspective. In particular, we trace the common origins of modern institutional and evolutionary economics, particularly in the work of Veblen, as well as important additional influences such as Schumpeter and Simon. We highlight how the two approaches became disconnected, and signal the possibility of, and need for, re-establishing closer connections between them. Possible elements of a future overlapping research programme are outlined.

Wisdom and Wisdom Literature

2021 ◽  
pp. xxii-14
Author(s):  
Will Kynes
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter introduces the volume by arguing that the study of biblical wisdom is in the midst of a potential paradigm shift, as interpreters are beginning to reconsider the relationship between the concept of wisdom in the Bible and the category Wisdom Literature. This offers an opportunity to explore how the two have been related in the past, in the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation, how they are connected in the present, as three competing primary approaches to Wisdom study have developed, and how they could be treated in the future, as new possibilities for understanding wisdom with insight from before and beyond the development of the Wisdom Literature category are emerging.

scholarly journals The future of drug development: the paradigm shift towards systems therapeutics

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 1990-1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meindert Danhof ◽  
Kevin Klein ◽  
Pieter Stolk ◽  
Murray Aitken ◽  
Hubert Leufkens
Keyword(s):  
Drug Development ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
The Future

The potential for a progressive paradigm shift

2021 ◽  
Vol 122 (1) ◽  
pp. 170-177
Author(s):  
John McDonnell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Banking Crisis ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Party Manifestos ◽  
The Future

The banking crisis and the pandemic have both demonstrated the potential for a progressive paradigm shift that could break with the hegemony of neoliberalism over Britain’s political economy. The Covid pandemic has demonstrated how many of the ideas and policies that formed the basis of the Labour Party manifestos of 2017 and 2019 are essential to tackling the current crisis of the pandemic and also for tackling the next crisis, which is the existential threat of climate change. For those on the left and progressives, the task is to discuss and plan the economy and society that will translate these lessons into a vision for the future of our society and into the concrete policy programme needed to achieve that vision. This article is based on a lecture given at the Marx Memorial Library on 23 June 2020 and we are pleased to reproduce it here.

It's the Speciesism, Stupid!

2018 ◽  
pp. 92-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Brügger
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
The Core ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
The Future ◽  
Livestock Raising ◽  
The Mass Media

In a time of intense instrumentalization of life, nature becomes a mere factory from which natural resources are withdrawn. This system is causing immense social, ethical and environmental impacts, and livestock raising is at the core of these problems. The concept of speciesism – a prejudice concerning nonhuman animals, analogous to racism and sexism – is paramount in this realm. This chapter analyses the role of the mass media in perpetuating speciesist values and the urgent need for a paradigm shift. A genuine concern about the future of the planet and nonhuman animals involves questioning our speciesism and our narrow instrumental and economic paradigms.

Paradigm Shift for the Future

2021 ◽  
pp. 173-201
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Way

Through case studies of incidents around the world where the social media platforms have been used and abused for ulterior purposes, Chapter 6 highlights the lessons that can be learned. For good or for ill, the author elaborates on the way social media has been used as an arbiter to inflict various forms of political influence and how we may have become desensitized due to the popularity of the social media platforms themselves. A searching view is provided that there is now a propensity by foreign states to use social media to influence the user base of sovereign countries during key political events. This type of activity now justifies a paradigm shift in relation to our perception and utilization of computerized devices for the future.

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