IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/egu/wpaper/0703.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Complexity Thinking and Evolutionary Economic Geography

Author

Listed:
  • Ron Martin
  • Peter Sunley

Abstract

Thus far, most of the work towards the construction of an evolutionary economic geography has drawn upon a particular version of evolutionary economics, namely the Nelson-Winter framework, which blends Darwinian concepts and metaphors (especially variety, selection, novelty and inheritance) and elements of a behavioural theory of the firm. Much less attention has been directed to an alternative conception based on complexity theory, yet in recent years complexity theory has increasingly been concerned with the general attributes of evolutionary natural and social systems. In this paper we explore the idea of the economic landscape as a complex adaptive system. We identify several key notions of what is being called the new ‘complexity economics’, and examine whether and in what ways these can be used to help inform an evolutionary perspective for understanding the uneven development and adaptive transformation of the economic landscape.

Suggested Citation

  • Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2007. "Complexity Thinking and Evolutionary Economic Geography," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 0703, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Apr 2007.
  • Handle: RePEc:egu:wpaper:0703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://econ.geo.uu.nl/peeg/peeg0703.pdf
    File Function: Version April 2007
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ron A. Boschma & Jan G. Lambooy, 1999. "Evolutionary economics and economic geography," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 9(4), pages 411-429.
    2. Ulrich Witt, 2003. "The Evolving Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2477.
    3. David O'Sullivan & Steven M Manson & Joseph P Messina & Thomas W Crawford, 2006. "Space, Place, and Complexity Science," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(4), pages 611-617, April.
    4. John Foster, 2005. "From simplistic to complex systems in economics," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(6), pages 873-892, November.
    5. Bill McKelvey, 1999. "Avoiding Complexity Catastrophe in Coevolutionary Pockets: Strategies for Rugged Landscapes," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(3), pages 294-321, June.
    6. J. Stan Metcalfe & John Foster & Ronnie Ramlogan, 2006. "Adaptive economic growth," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 7-32, January.
    7. Arthur J. Robson, 2005. "Complex Evolutionary Systems and the Red Queen," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(504), pages 211-224, June.
    8. Hermann Schnabl & Guy West & John Foster & Averil Cook, 1999. "A New Approach to Identifying Structural Development in Economic Systems: The Case of the Queensland Economy," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 64-78, January.
    9. Krugman, Paul, 1994. "Complex Landscapes in Economic Geography," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 412-416, May.
    10. Sheri M. Markose, 2005. "Computability and Evolutionary Complexity: Markets as Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS)," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(504), pages 159-192, June.
    11. Paul Cilliers, 2001. "Boundaries, Hierarchies And Networks In Complex Systems," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(02), pages 135-147.
    12. Maskell, Peter, 2001. "Towards a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Geographical Cluster," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 921-943, December.
    13. Koen Frenken & Ron A. Boschma, 2007. "A theoretical framework for evolutionary economic geography: industrial dynamics and urban growth as a branching process," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(5), pages 635-649, September.
    14. Jan G. Lambooy & Ron A. Boschma, 2001. "Evolutionary economics and regional policy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 35(1), pages 113-131.
    15. John Foster & Stan Metcalfe, 2009. "Evolution and economic complexity: an overview," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(7), pages 607-610.
    16. Arthur, W Brian, 1989. "Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-In by Historical Events," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(394), pages 116-131, March.
    17. Brian J. Loasby, 2001. "Industrial Dynamics Why Connections Matter," DRUID Working Papers 01-09, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    18. 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.
    19. Valerie Lindsay, 2005. "The Development of International Industry Clusters: A Complexity Theory Approach," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 71-97, January.
    20. Foster, John, 1993. "Economics and the Self-Organisation Approach: Alfred Marshall Revisited," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(419), pages 975-991, July.
    21. Kurt Dopfer & John Foster & Jason Potts, 2004. "Micro-meso-macro," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 263-279, July.
    22. David F. Batten, 2001. "Complex landscapes of spatial interaction," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 35(1), pages 81-111.
    23. John Foster & Werner Hölzl (ed.), 2004. "Applied Evolutionary Economics and Complex Systems," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3061.
    24. John Foster, 2000. "Competitive selection, self-organisation and Joseph A. Schumpeter," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 311-328.
    25. Fulvio Castellacci, 2006. "A critical realist interpretation of evolutionary growth theorising," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(6), pages 861-880, November.
    26. Stan Metcalfe, "undated". "Capitalism and evolution," Openloc Working Papers 1201, Public policies and local development.
    27. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2006. "Path dependence and regional economic evolution," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 395-437, August.
    28. Elizabeth Garnsey, 1998. "The Genesis of the High Technology Milieu: A Study in Complexity," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 361-377, September.
    29. John Foster, 2006. "Why Is Economics Not a Complex Systems Science?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 1069-1091, December.
    30. Robert Hassink, 2005. "How to unlock regional economies from path dependency? From learning region to learning cluster," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 521-535, June.
    31. Kurt Dopfer & Jason Potts, 2004. "Evolutionary realism: a new ontology for economics," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 195-212.
    32. Ron A. Boschma & Koen Frenken, 2006. "Why is economic geography not an evolutionary science? Towards an evolutionary economic geography," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 273-302, June.
    33. Steven Pinch & Nick Henry & Mark Jenkins & Stephen Tallman, 2003. "From 'industrial districts' to 'knowledge clusters': a model of knowledge dissemination and competitive advantage in industrial agglomerations," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 373-388, October.
    34. Foster, John, 1997. "The analytical foundations of evolutionary economics: From biological analogy to economic self-organization," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 427-451, October.
    35. Jason Potts, 2001. "Knowledge and markets," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 413-431.
    36. J. Barkley Rosser Jr. (ed.), 2004. "Complexity in Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 2709.
    37. Steven N. Durlauf, 2005. "Complexity and Empirical Economics," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(504), pages 225-243, June.
    38. Jürgen Essletzbichler & David L. Rigby, 2007. "Exploring evolutionary economic geographies," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(5), pages 549-571, September.
    39. J. Stanley Metcalfe & John Foster (ed.), 2004. "Evolution and Economic Complexity," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3216.
    40. Jürgen Essletzbichler & David L. Rigby, 2007. "Exploring Evolutionary Economic Geographies," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 0702, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Apr 2007.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ron Boschma & Ron Martin, 2010. "The Aims and Scope of Evolutionary Economic Geography," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2010. "The Place of Path Dependence in an Evolutionary Perspective on the Economic Landscape," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. He, Zheng & Rayman-Bacchus, Lez & Wu, Yiming, 2011. "Self-organization of industrial clustering in a transition economy: A proposed framework and case study evidence from China," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1280-1294.
    4. Danny MacKinnon & Andrew Cumbers & Andy Pike & Kean Birch & Robert McMaster, 2009. "Evolution in Economic Geography: Institutions, Political Economy, and Adaptation," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(2), pages 129-150, April.
    5. Jürgen Essletzbichler & David L. Rigby, 2010. "Generalized Darwinism and Evolutionary Economic Geography," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2015. "Towards a Developmental Turn in Evolutionary Economic Geography?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 712-732, May.
    7. Cristiano Antonelli, 2011. "The Economic Complexity of Technological Change: Knowledge Interaction and Path Dependence," Chapters, in: Cristiano Antonelli (ed.), Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Fredin, Sabrina, 2012. "The Dynamics and Evolution of Local Industries – The case of Linköping," Papers in Innovation Studies 2012/7, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    9. Ron Boschma & Koen Frenken, 2011. "The emerging empirics of evolutionary economic geography," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 295-307, March.
    10. Liu Zhi-gao & Dunford Michael, 2012. "Rejuvenating old industries in new contexts," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 56(1-2), pages 185-202, October.
    11. Anders Malmberg & Peter Maskell, 2010. "An Evolutionary Approach to Localized Learning and Spatial Clustering," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Verónica Robert & Gabriel Yoguel & Octavio Lerena, 2017. "The ontology of complexity and the neo-Schumpeterian evolutionary theory of economic change," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 761-793, September.
    13. Heike Schroeder, 2011. "Application possibilities of the micro-meso-macro framework in economic geography," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1115, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2011.
    14. Ron Martin, 2010. "Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography—Rethinking Regional Path Dependence: Beyond Lock-in to Evolution," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 86(1), pages 1-27, January.
    15. Alessandra Colombelli & Nick von Tunzelmann, 2011. "The Persistence of Innovation and Path Dependence," Chapters, in: Cristiano Antonelli (ed.), Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Martin Henning & Erik Stam & Rik Wenting, 2013. "Path Dependence Research in Regional Economic Development: Cacophony or Knowledge Accumulation?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(8), pages 1348-1362, September.
    17. John Foster, 2005. "From simplistic to complex systems in economics," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(6), pages 873-892, November.
    18. José M. Barrutia & Carmen Echebarria, 2010. "Developing a New Framework to Explain Transverse Evolution of Knowledge‐Driven Regional Policy Networks," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 906-924, December.
    19. John Foster, 2017. "Prior Commitment and Uncertainty in Complex Economic Systems: Reinstating History in the Core of Economic Analysis," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(4), pages 392-418, September.
    20. Markus Steen, 2016. "Reconsidering path creation in economic geography: aspects of agency, temporality and methods," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(9), pages 1605-1622, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    complexity theory; evolution; economic landscape; networks; emergence; regional adaptation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:egu:wpaper:0703. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deguunl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.