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When is industry ‘sustainable’? The economics of institutional variety in a pandemic

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  • Smita Srinivas

    (Open University
    Innogen Institute, Open University and University of Edinburgh
    University College London (UCL))

Abstract

Industrialising economies today are characterised by a multi-level heterogeneity of customs, norms, guidelines, standards, regulations and other laws that provide the broad scaffolding and the technical context for industrial activity. This institutional variety (IV) leads to combinatorial challenges about which institutions are mixed and matched as technologies and sectors evolve. Gaps in evolutionary political economy and evolutionary institutional methods should explain when variety is ‘better’ for industrial development. Two health industry cases, oxygen production and Ayurveda, have come into the pandemic spotlight under high demand and high uncertainty, by patients, state, firms, experts and other stakeholders. Both cases reflect markedly different types of institutional variety with implications for manufacturing and services. A debate of sustainable industrial policies (SIPs) thus requires attention to institutional variety (IV) and a future agenda on healthcare.

Suggested Citation

  • Smita Srinivas, 2023. "When is industry ‘sustainable’? The economics of institutional variety in a pandemic," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 75-107, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:revepe:v:4:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s43253-023-00093-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s43253-023-00093-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ioanna Kastelli & Lukasz Mamica & Keun Lee, 2023. "New perspectives and issues in industrial policy for sustainable development: from developmental and entrepreneurial to environmental state," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-25, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Institutions; Institutional variety; Sustainable development; Health industry; Industrial policy; Technological change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • O25 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Industrial Policy
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • L50 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - General
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development

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