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System-level agency and its many shades: How to shape the system for path development?

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  • Maximilian Benner

Abstract

Agency has become one of the critical themes in path development and several typologies of agency have been proposed. The notion of system-level agency has attracted particular attention. However, existing typologies of agency suffer from conceptual limitations and the many shades of system-level agency in the system of path development remain largely unclear. This article discusses the limitations of existing typologies of agency in path development, clarifies the notion of the system and its functions, and proposes a multidimensional framework that brings together the multiple shades of how agents shape paths along various angles, system functions, and a multiscalar perspective.

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  • Maximilian Benner, 2021. "System-level agency and its many shades: How to shape the system for path development?," PEGIS geo-disc-2021_10, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
  • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwpeg:geo-disc-2021_10
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    evolutionary economic geography; agency; institutions; path development; regional development;
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