IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v222y2024ics0921800924001277.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy, urbanization, and complexity: Towards a multi-scale ecological economic theory of innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Menegat, Stefano

Abstract

The concept of innovation is at the core of any attempt to draft a meaningful theory of economic change. Whether by reducing innovations to the “myth of the sole inventor” or by adopting technological determinism, dominant narratives ignore the complexity of the socio-ecological relations underpinning patterns of societal transformation. This article proposes a framework grounded in critical realism and ecological economics to characterise innovations as elements endogenous to historical patterns of socio-ecological reproduction. Departing from Schumpeter's definition of creative response and Georgescu-Roegen's concept of exosomatic evolution, I discuss three main arguments: first, the relation between innovations and socio-economic change is impredicative, because the direction of causality cannot be clearly established; second, the emergence of innovations is bounded by declining marginal returns to economic complexity. Third, economic change has to be contextualised in relation to historical cycles of energy use and economic complexification. These arguments corroborate the hypothesis that a long-lasting S-shaped wave of innovation took place in capitalist economies over the past two centuries. This article has several implications for the study of both innovation waves and economic growth, in particular, by proposing a new framework to conceptualise productivity, energy, and labour as cornerstones of a multi-scale theory of innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Menegat, Stefano, 2024. "Energy, urbanization, and complexity: Towards a multi-scale ecological economic theory of innovation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:222:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924001277
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108230
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924001277
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108230?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Gowdy & Susan Mesner, 1998. "The Evolution of Georgescu-Roegen's Bioeconomics," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 136-156.
    2. Schumpeter, Joseph A., 1947. "The Creative Response in Economic History," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 149-159, November.
    3. Spash, Clive L., 2012. "New foundations for ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 36-47.
    4. Sorrell, Steve, 2018. "Explaining sociotechnical transitions: A critical realist perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(7), pages 1267-1282.
    5. Barca, Stefania, 2011. "Energy, property, and the industrial revolution narrative," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1309-1315, May.
    6. Jackson, Tim, 2019. "The Post-growth Challenge: Secular Stagnation, Inequality and the Limits to Growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 236-246.
    7. Christoph Heinzel, 2013. "Schumpeter and Georgescu-Roegen on the foundations of an evolutionary analysis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 37(2), pages 251-271.
    8. Eric Neumayer, 1999. "The ISEW -- not an Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 77-101, September.
    9. Brandt, Karl, 1961. "Agricultural Productivity, Economic Growth, and the Farm Policy Motivation of the Urban Electorates," Food Research Institute Studies, Stanford University, Food Research Institute, vol. 2(2), pages 1-12.
    10. Paavola, Jouni & Fraser, Evan D.G., 2011. "Ecological Economics and Environmental History," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1266-1268, May.
    11. Spash, Clive L., 2013. "The shallow or the deep ecological economics movement?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 351-362.
    12. Rosenberg, Nathan & Frischtak, Claudio R, 1984. "Technological Innovation and Long Waves," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(1), pages 7-24, March.
    13. Stefano Menegat, 2022. "From Panarchy to World-Ecology: Combining the Adaptive Cycle Heuristic with Historical-Geographical Approaches to Explore Socio-Ecological Systems’ Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-14, November.
    14. repec:sae:envval:v:17:y:2008:i:2:p:259-284 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Frank, Mark W., 1998. "Schumpeter on Entrepreneurs and Innovation: A Reappraisal," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(4), pages 505-516, December.
    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. Sarah-Louise Ruder & Sophia Rose Sanniti, 2019. "Transcending the Learned Ignorance of Predatory Ontologies: A Research Agenda for an Ecofeminist-Informed Ecological Economics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-29, March.
    2. Goddard, Jessica J. & Kallis, Giorgos & Norgaard, Richard B., 2019. "Keeping multiple antennae up: Coevolutionary foundations for methodological pluralism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Plumecocq, Gaël, 2014. "The second generation of ecological economics: How far has the apple fallen from the tree?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 457-468.
    4. Iana Nesterova, 2024. "Being of deep transformations: A personal journey inspired by Clive L. Spash," Environmental Values, , vol. 33(2), pages 122-138, April.
    5. Birkin, Frank & Polesie, Thomas, 2013. "The relevance of epistemic analysis to sustainability economics and the capability approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 144-152.
    6. Lundgren, Jakob, 2022. "Unity through disunity: Strengths, values, and tensions in the disciplinary discourse of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Terrance Quinn, 2023. "An Emergent Transdisciplinary Methodology for Effective Collaboration in Ecological Economics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, May.
    8. Sylvie Ferrari & Alain Alcouffe, 2008. "Growth versus development from Schumpeter to Georgescu-Roegen," Post-Print hal-00383186, HAL.
    9. Dube, Benjamin, 2021. "Why cross and mix disciplines and methodologies?: Multiple meanings of Interdisciplinarity and pluralism in ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    10. Couix, Quentin, 2020. "Georgescu-Roegen's Flow-Fund Theory of Production in Retrospect," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    11. Clive L. Spash, 2019. "Substantive Economics and Avoiding False Dichotomies in Advancing Social Ecological Economics," SRE-Disc sre-disc-2019_05, Institute for Multilevel Governance and Development, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    12. Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten, 2015. "Energy, growth, and evolution: Towards a naturalistic ontology of economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 432-442.
    13. Pirgmaier, Elke, 2017. "The Neoclassical Trojan Horse of Steady-State Economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 52-61.
    14. Spash, Clive L., 2020. "A tale of three paradigms: Realising the revolutionary potential of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    15. Gerber, Julien-François & Scheidel, Arnim, 2018. "In Search of Substantive Economics: Comparing Today's Two Major Socio-metabolic Approaches to the Economy – MEFA and MuSIASEM," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 186-194.
    16. Constantin Mitrut & Cristina Balaceanu & Mihaela Gruiescu & Daniela Serban, 2015. "The Macroeconomic Framework of Support Analysis for Sustainable Businesses Development," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 17(40), pages 1068-1068, August.
    17. Melgar-Melgar, Rigo E. & Hall, Charles A.S., 2020. "Why ecological economics needs to return to its roots: The biophysical foundation of socio-economic systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    18. Spash, Clive L., 2017. "The Need for and Meaning of Social Ecological Economics," SRE-Discussion Papers 2017/02, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    19. Long, Xianling & Ji, Xi, 2019. "Economic Growth Quality, Environmental Sustainability, and Social Welfare in China - Provincial Assessment Based on Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 157-176.
    20. Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten, 2018. "The Case for a New Discipline: Technosphere Science," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 212-225.

    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:eee:ecolec:v:222:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924001277. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    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.