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Summary
In a previous book called Evolutionary Economics: Post-Schumpeterian Contributions (Andersen, 1994, 1), I emphasised the need for “a ‘dialogue’ with older, verbal studies of economic evolution”. Although several of the great economists of the past can be seen as contributors to such verbal studies, the title of the book suggested that I was primarily thinking of Joseph A. Schumpeter. It seemed clear to me that Schumpeter, early in life, had chosen what can today be classified as evolutionary economics as the field in which he would make a great contribution to the progress of his chosen science. Actually, he seems to have wanted to do for economics what Darwin had done for biology: to develop a theory that supports the study of the historical process of the evolution of economic life. However, he rejected to work along Darwinian lines. Instead, he combined broad evolutionist perspectives with the tools of neoclassical economics and the German historical school. Furthermore, he recognised that the full explanation of economic evolution is dependent on the explanation of socio-political evolution, so he also worked to promote evolutionary sociology. Although his attempts to develop these areas and to include them into the body of economics and other social sciences cannot be described as unconditional successes, his unique efforts were not made in vain. His vision of the evolutionary process and the concepts that he used to implement this vision are still able to challenge and inspire.
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- Schumpeter's Evolutionary EconomicsA Theoretical, Historical and Statistical Analysis of the Engine of Capitalism, pp. xiii - xviPublisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2009