Near decomposability and the speed of evolution
Abstract
This paper proposes an explanation for a fundamental property that appears to be shared by all multicelled organisms. Such organisms consist of a hierarchy of components, such that, at any level of the hierarchy, the rates of interaction within components at that level are much higher than the rates of interaction between different components. Systems with this property are called nearly completely decomposable, or more briefly, nearly decomposable (ND). The explanation for the ubiquity of the ND property is that, under the usual conditions of mutation and-or crossover and natural selection, ND systems will increase in fitness, and therefore reproduce, at a much faster rate than systems that do not possess the ND property. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.Download Info
To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:1. Check below under "Related research" whether another version of this item is available online.
2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.
Bibliographic Info
Article provided by Oxford University Press in its journal Industrial and Corporate Change.
Volume (Year): 11 (2002)
Issue (Month): 3 (June)
Pages: 587-599
Contact details of provider:
Postal: Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK
Fax: 01865 267 985
Email:
Web page: http://icc.oupjournals.org/
Order Information:
Web: http://www.oup.co.uk/journals
Related research
Keywords:References
No references listed on IDEASYou can help add them by filling out this form.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Marengo, Luigi & Dosi, Giovanni, 2005.
"Division of labor, organizational coordination and market mechanisms in collective problem-solving,"
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization,
Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 303-326, October.
- Luigi Marengo & Giovanni Dosi, 2003. "Division of Labor, Organizational Coordination and Market Mechanism in Collective Problem-Solving," LEM Papers Series 2003/04, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
- Marengo, Luigi & Pasquali, Corrado, 2006. "Non rivalry and complementarity in computer software," MPRA Paper 25589, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- P. Murmann & K. Frenken, 2002.
"Toward a Systematic Framework for Research on Dominant Designs, Technological Innovations, and Industrial Change,"
Papers on Economics and Evolution
2002-12, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group.
- Murmann, Johann Peter & Frenken, Koen, 2006. "Toward a systematic framework for research on dominant designs, technological innovations, and industrial change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 925-952, September.
- Frenken, K. & Nuvolari, A., 2003.
"The Early Development of the Steam Engine: An Evolutionary Interpretation using Complexity Theory,"
Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies (ECIS) working paper series
03.15, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies (ECIS).
- Koen Frenken & Alessandro Nuvolari, 2004. "The early development of the steam engine: an evolutionary interpretation using complexity theory," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 419-450, April.
- Kerstin Press, 2007. "When does defection pay?," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 67-84, June.
- Guido Fioretti, 2005. "Credit Rationing and Internal Ratings in the face of Innovation and Uncertainty," Finance 0504021, EconWPA.
- Hölzl,Werner & Reinstaller,Andreas, 2003. "The Babbage principle after evolutionary economics," Research Memoranda 016, Maastricht : MERIT, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology.
- Malte Schwoon & Floortje Alkemade & Koen Frenken & Marko P. Hekkert, 2008.
"A complex systems methodology to transition management,"
Innovation Studies Utrecht (ISU) working paper series
08-12, Utrecht University, Department of Innovation Studies, revised Apr 2008.
- Floortje Alkemade & Koen Frenken & Marko Hekkert & Malte Schwoon, 2009. "A complex systems methodology to transition management," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 527-543, August.
- Paul Windrum & Andreas Reinstaller & Christopher Bull, 2009. "The outsourcing productivity paradox: total outsourcing, organisational innovation, and long run productivity growth," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 197-229, April.
- Stefano Fiori, 2010. "Is H.A. Simon a theoretician of decentralized planning? A comparison with F.A. Hayek on planning, market, and organizations," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 145-170, June.
- Andreas Reinstaller, 2007. "Koen Frenken: Innovation, evolution and complexity theory," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 107-111, February.
- Andreas Reinstaller, 2011. "The Modularity of Technology and Organisations. Implications for the Theory of the Firm," WIFO Working Papers 398, WIFO.
- Mario Benassi, 2009. "Investigating modular organizations," Journal of Management and Governance, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 163-192, August.
- Leonardo Bargigli, 2005. "The limits of modularity in innovation and production," KITeS Working Papers 176, KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised Sep 2005.
- Massimo Egidi & Luigi Marengo, 2002. "Cognition, institutions, near decomposability: rethinking Herbert Simon's contribution," CEEL Working Papers 0206, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
- Buenstorf, Guido, 2005. "Sequential production, modularity and technological change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 221-241, June.
- Garzarelli, Giampaolo & Limam, Yasmina Reem & Thomassen, Bjørn, 2007. "Open Source Software and Economic Growth: A Classical Division of Labor Perspective," MPRA Paper 3849, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Frenken, K. & Nuvolari, A., 2002. "Entropy Statistics as a Framework to Analyse Technological Evolution," Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies (ECIS) working paper series 02.15, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies (ECIS).
- Patrucco Pierpaolo, 2008. "Complexity and organizational change in the coordination of technological knowledge: evidence from the automobile cluster in Turin," Dipartimento di Economia "S. Cognetti de Martiis" LEI & BRICK - Laboratorio di economia dell'innovazione "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio Carlo 200808, University of Turin.
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:11:y:2002:i:3:p:587-599For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Oxford University Press) or (Christopher F. Baum).
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

