Macro–Meso–Micro: An Integrative Framework for Evolutionary Economics and Sustainable Transitions

This integrative review examines the persistent analytical divide in economics by advancing the macro–meso–micro framework as a comprehensive approach for understanding complex socioeconomic ecosystems and sustainability transitions. Drawing on empirical evidence from European energy systems, particularly Greece and the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, we demonstrate that conventional economic analysis has systematically overlooked the crucial meso-level where evolutionary processes are most visible and transformative. This conceptual “myopia” has led to fragmented policy interventions that work at cross-purposes across different analytical levels. By reconceptualizing economic systems as evolving rule populations operating simultaneously at three distinct but interconnected levels, this view offers diagnostic potential for effective adaptation to sustainability transitions. The framework’s greatest contribution lies in its theoretical thoroughness and, most importantly, in its practical capacity to generate more coherent interventions that harness evolutionary dynamics.