Description
Book SynopsisThis comprehensive and innovative
Handbook applies the tools of the economics of complexity to analyze the causes and effects of technological and structural change. It grafts the intuitions of the economics of complexity into the tradition of analysis based upon the Schumpeterian and Marshallian legacies.
The Handbook elaborates the notion of innovation as an emerging property of the organized complexity of an economic system, and provides the basic tools to understand the recursive dynamics between the emergence of innovation and the unfolding of organized complexity. In so doing, it highlights the role of organizational thinking in explaining the introduction of innovations and the dynamics of structural change.
With a new methodological approach to the economics of technological change, this wide-ranging volume will become the standard reference for postgraduates, academics and practitioners in the fields of evolutionary economics, complexity economics and the economics of innovation.
Trade Review’The editor of this Handbook
, Cristiano Antonelli, is to commended for the high quality of the group of authors he has assembled for this project. They provide excellent coverage of the various areas within the field, covering complexity of innovation, complexity of knowledge, complexity of structural change and development, and lessons and implications for economic policy. This is an important and evolving topic, and this book captures the cutting edge of research on it, particularly in connection with the broader idea of economic complexity.’ -- J. Barkley Rosser, Jr., James Madison University, US
’My overall impression of the handbook is very favourable. It gives a broad overview of the different topics addressed by complexity economics, especially with regard to innovation and knowledge management. Knowledge and innovation are treated as the emergent properties of a system in which heterogeneous actors interact in different ways at different levels: the firm (meso), the individual (micro), and society (macro). Both Antonelli s and Bonaccorsi's chapters are treasure troves of concepts and ideas, although not necessarily for the complexity novice. Lane's chapter, however, provides an excellent introduction. . . For researchers in the field of economics and those that are interested in 'complexity in the real world', this handbook provides ample discussion and research roads ahead.’ -- Andreas Ligtvoet, Science and Public Policy
’Antonelli's handbook is an impressive compendium of theoretical approaches to complexity in economics that has emerged during the last two decades. . . this handbook is an amazing excursus on the state of the art of complexity thinking in the economics of technological change. Not only did the compendium reinforce the achievements of other theory textbooks in this field; it also paves the way for a “normalisation” of complexity in economics. It strongly defends the advantage of operationalization and applied research in economics and touches upon important policy implications. Therefore, it is a must-read both for the scientist and for the policy researcher in the field of innovation and technological change.’ -- Manfred Paier, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
Table of ContentsContents: PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. The Economic Complexity of Technological Change: Knowledge Interaction and Path Dependence Cristiano Antonelli PART II: THE ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY OF INNOVATION 2. Complexity and Innovation Dynamics David A. Lane 3. Complexity in the Theory of the Developing Firm Harry Bloch and Stan Metcalfe 4. The Persistence of Innovation and Path Dependence Alessandra Colombelli and Nick von Tunzelmann 5. The Symbiotic Theory of Innovation: Knowledge Creation and the Evolution of the Capitalist System Martin Fransman PART III: THE ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY OF KNOWLEDGE 6. Knowledge, Complexity and Networks Pier Paolo Saviotti 7. The Dynamics of Technological Knowledge: From Linearity to Recombination Jackie Krafft and Francesco Quatraro 8. Complexity and the Coordination of Technological Knowledge: The Case of Innovation Platforms Davide Consoli and Pier Paolo Patrucco 9. Causes, Consequences and Dynamics of ‘Complex’ Distributions of Technological Activities: The Case of Prolific Inventors William Latham and Christian Le Bas 10. The Biomedical Workforce in the US: An Example of Positive Feedbacks Paula E. Stephan 11. University–Industry Interactions: The Unresolved Puzzle Isabel Maria Bodas Freitas, Aldo Geuna and Federica Rossi 12. A Functional Theory of Technology and Technological Change Andrea Bonaccorsi PART IV: THE ECONOMIC COMPLEXITY OF STRUCTURAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT 13. Mesoeconomics: A Unified Approach to Systems Complexity and Evolution Kurt Dopfer 14. Notes on a Complexity Theory of Economic Development Koen Frenken and Ron Boschma 15. Innovation Networks: Formation, Performance and Dynamics Uwe Cantner and Holger Graf 16. The Complex Interaction between Global Production Networks, Digital Information Systems and International Knowledge Transfers Jarle Hildrum, Dieter Ernst and Jan Fagerberg 17. The Complex Dynamics of Economic Development Verónica Robert and Gabriel Yoguel PART V: LESSONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR ECONOMIC POLICY 18. Coevolution, Emergence and Economic Development: Some Lessons from the Israeli and Mexican Experience Gabriela Dutrénit and Morris Teubal 19. Network Models of Innovation Process and Policy Implications Paul Ormerod, Bridget Rosewell and Greg Wiltshire 20. Government as Entrepreneur: Examples from US Technology Policy Albert N. Link and Jamie R. Link Index
