IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/egu/wpaper/2532.html

Advancing Institutional Theorizing in Evolutionary Economics

Author

Listed:
  • Ron Boschma
  • Koen Frenken

Abstract

With its focus on innovation, institutions have remain under-theorized in evolutionary economics. This paper aims to contribute to Nelson’s institutional agenda within evolutionary economics in two ways. First, we discuss the core concepts of organizational routines and natural trajectories from an institutional perspective. Second, we pick up on Nelson's co-evolutionary model linking technology, markets and institutions in economic development, and introduce the notion of ‘institutional relatedness’ to understand how institutions both constrain and enable economic development and structural change as well as how institutions channel the direction of institutional change itself.

Suggested Citation

  • Ron Boschma & Koen Frenken, 2025. "Advancing Institutional Theorizing in Evolutionary Economics," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2532, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2025.
    • Handle: RePEc:egu:wpaper:2532
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://econ.geo.uu.nl/peeg/peeg2532.pdf
    File Function: Version October 2025
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malerba, Franco, 2002. "Sectoral systems of innovation and production," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 247-264, February.
    2. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning & Ron Boschma, 2011. "How Do Regions Diversify over Time? Industry Relatedness and the Development of New Growth Paths in Regions," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(3), pages 237-265, July.
    3. Mariana Mazzucato, 2018. "Mission-oriented innovation policies: challenges and opportunities," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(5), pages 803-815.
    4. Nelson, Richard R., 2008. "What enables rapid economic progress: What are the needed institutions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 1-11, February.
    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. Ekaterina Prytkova, 2021. "ICT's Wide Web: a System-Level Analysis of ICT's Industrial Diffusion with Algorithmic Links," Jena Economics Research Papers 2021-005, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    2. Josef Taalbi, 2017. "Development blocks in innovation networks," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 461-501, July.
    3. Befort, N., 2020. "Going beyond definitions to understand tensions within the bioeconomy: The contribution of sociotechnical regimes to contested fields," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    4. Chatzistamoulou, Nikos & Kounetas, Kostas & Tsekouras, Kostas, 2022. "Technological hierarchies and learning: Spillovers, complexity, relatedness, and the moderating role of absorptive capacity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    5. Vivarelli, Marco & Piva, Mariacristina & Tani, Massimiliano, 2025. "The role of business visits in fostering R&D investment," MERIT Working Papers 2025-010, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Smith, Göran & Hensher, David A., 2020. "Towards a framework for Mobility-as-a-Service policies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 54-65.
    7. Ron Boschma, 2022. "Evolutionary Economic Geography and Policy," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2220, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Oct 2022.
    8. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    9. Elias Carayannis & Marco Vinzenzi & John Draper & Nikos Kanellos, 2024. "Can Fusion Be the Next General-Purpose Technology? Theory, Policy, Practice, and Politics Perspectives on Stewarding Fusion Energy Research," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 9497-9514, June.
    10. Petralia, Sergio & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Morrison, Andrea, 2017. "Climbing the ladder of technological development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5), pages 956-969.
    11. Aistleitner, Matthias & Gräbner, Claudius & Hornykewycz, Anna, 2021. "Theory and empirics of capability accumulation: Implications for macroeconomic modeling," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).
    12. Simensen, Erlend Osland & Abbasiharofteh, Milad, 2022. "Sectoral patterns of collaborative tie formation: Investigating geographic, cognitive, and technological dimensions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 31(5), pages 1223-1258.
    13. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/401t6job098n79ch91o9giov9d is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Song Hong, 2013. "The national patent regime and indigenous innovations in compliance with TRIPS: a case study of China," Chapters, in: Sunil Mani & Richard R. Nelson (ed.), TRIPS Compliance, National Patent Regimes and Innovation, chapter 5, pages 172-221, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Dosi, Giovanni & Lamperti, Francesco & Mazzucato, Mariana & Napoletano, Mauro & Roventini, Andrea, 2023. "Mission-oriented policies and the “Entrepreneurial State” at work: An agent-based exploration," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    16. Natalie Holden, 2015. "An exploration of interactive contextual and dispositional factors which influence a collective process of entrepreneurial activity: a novel case at Bristol Zoo," Working Papers 27, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Nov 2015.
    17. Samuel Klebaner & Anaïs Voy-Gillis, 2023. "The political economy of French industrial policymaking," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 49-74, April.
    18. Rune Dahl Fitjar & Bram Timmermans, 2017. "Knowledge bases and relatedness: A study of labour mobility in Norwegian regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1712, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jun 2017.
    19. Erlend Osland Simensen & Milad Abbasiharofteh, 2022. "Sectoral patterns of collaborative tie formation: investigating geographic, cognitive, and technological dimensions [Endogenous effects and cluster transition: a conceptual framework for cluster po," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 31(5), pages 1223-1258.
    20. Marie-Claude BELIS-BERGOUIGNAN, 2009. "An evolutionist analysis of sectoral dynamics (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2009-18, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    21. Jun-Youn Kim & Tae-Young Park & Keun Lee, 2013. "Catch-Up by Indigenous Firms in the Software Industry and the Role of the Government in China: A Sectoral System of Innovation (SSI) Perspective," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 3(1), pages 100-120, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • B15 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary
    • 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
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    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:2532. 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 The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask the person in charge to update the entry or send us the correct address (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.