Innovation has for long been recognised as the mainspring of economic growth. But only in the last two decades or so has economic theory started to come to grips with the complexity of cause and effect in technological progress. Innovation, Economics and Evolution draws on that work to explore how changing technology can influence economic systems, and how economic factors bear upon decisions which change technology. The text's analysis deals with the microeconomics of demand, stressing the importance for successful innovation of meeting market needs; the implications of technological progress for production costs; the economics of the firm as it relates to decisions to develop and adopt innovations; the impact of innovation on inter-firm competition at the industry level; technological progress and long-run growth; and medium-term macroeconomic effects of innovation on business-cycles and unemployment. By its nature, the process of innovation has a historical dimension absent from much formal economic analysis. To reflect recent theoretical attempts to incorporate this element, a major theme of the book is to explore the insights generated by taking an evolutionary perspective. An account of the tension between mechanical and evolutionary views of the world appears early in the book, and evolutionary ideas are presented throughout.
- ISBN10 0133025713
- ISBN13 9780133025712
- Publish Date 19 September 1994
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 1 July 2007
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Pearson Education Limited
- Format Paperback
- Pages 418
- Language English