4,207 research outputs found
'More is different', exaptation and uncertainty: three foundational concepts for a complexity theory of innovation
No full textIncreasingly, economists concur that innovation processes are far from equilibrium phenomena. Indeed, these processes are characterized by complex qualitative changes in the relations between producers, sellers and users, from which new products and new markets emerge. In order to understand such processes, many economists have begun to draw on ideas and methods from 'the sciences of complex systems' literature. In this paper, I examine in detail three concepts from this literature, and I show how, taken together, these concepts provide a foundation for a complexity theory of innovation. I briefly characterize these concepts as follows: (1) The 'more is different' principle. The need to reach new potential consumers in the face of increased production capacity induces qualitative changes in artifact functionality, agent interaction patterns, and the relations between production and consumption. (2) Exaptation. New patterns of interaction among agents around the use of new kinds of artifacts lead to the emergence of new functionality, which in turn induces new kinds of relationships among production, technology, and consumption. (3) Ontological uncertainty. New artifacts, new patterns of interaction around their production and use, and new attributions of functionality generate perpetual novelty in innovation contexts, which makes prediction impossible: not only because agents are unable to decide which among some set of well-defined consequences will happen as a result of actions they contemplate taking, but also because some of the very subjects, objects, and criteria of value with which these consequences of their possible actions would have to be expressed simply do not exist at the historical moment in which agents must act. The paper argues that a theory of innovation capable of providing deep insight into the way in which innovation processes unfold in historical time must begin by embedding these three concepts in its foundation.innovation, complexity, quantitative and qualitative changes, exaptation, ontological uncertainty,
Saggio dell'interesse e distribuzione del reddito
No full textIl libro esamina le origini e gli sviluppi della teoria monetaria della distribuzione del reddito attraverso le teorie di Wicksell, Hayek, Sraffa, Keynes e Tobi
Investimenti, consumi e occupazione
No full textThe essay aims to draw attention to the view that the adjustment of productive capacity to expected demand implies a qualitative change in productive capacity, which is transformed by the producers with a view to acquiring the means of production, skills and organization necessary to produce new and existing goods and services in a new way. In particular, the essay focuses on the possible long-term effects arising from feedbacks of this transformation of productive capacity, on employment growth, consumption, production and income. In this theoretical perspective, investments are considered as a long-term autonomous component of demand. A system of relationships between investment, consumption and employment is estimated for the United States and Italy over the period 1960-2013. The results suggest that in our contemporary economies decelerative forces are at work. These forces can essentially be attributed to the reduction in the use of labour per unit of production and to the effects of such a reduction on income and employment growt
Risparmio e investimento nell’economia globale: da cosa dipende il disavanzo di parte corrente degli Stati Uniti?
No full textIl saggio esamina le determinanti del disavanzo commerciale degli Stati Uniti dal 1995 a ogg
Exaptation, Degeneracy and Innovation
No full textIn innovation processes, exaptations are innovation-development processes through which an initial attribution of new functionality to existing artifacts leads to new artifacts and eventually new markets. In this article I focus on the theoretical foundations of these processes, proposing a theoretical framework to analyze them. The essay provides a contribution in the following two directions: • a discussion of the different levels of organization through which exaptations emerge in a market system;• an analysis of the complex links between exaptation and degeneracy (a many-to-many rather than one-to-one map between structure and function).Using this theoretical framework, I focus on the need for an analysis of the consequences of exaptations, arguing that exaptations may contribute to emerging degeneracy, which, in turn, may trigger further exaptations. In market systems one form of degeneracy is the coexistence of many structurally different artifacts providing at least in part the same functionality. I present historical examples that suggest that degeneracy increases the complexity of the system: the attribution of functionality previously provided by existing artifacts to new artifacts potentially able to provide them in a new way is a significant process giving raise to new artifacts and new markets
Istituzioni, bisogni e direzioni del cambiamento
No full textCan institutions orient the emergence of new needs and, through their action, address the economic system to their satisfaction? In order to answering this question, the essay proposes a theoretical framework grounded on two elements: the notion of institutions as different types of entities organised around different systems of rules, and the notion of needs as the expression of awareness of what people consider important to build new life plans. The emergence of such an awareness is linked to knowledge-generating process-es. The resulting policy implications focus on the idea that social policies should follow two complementary directions: contributing to build the minimum conditions to design life plans and widening the possibilities of active participation in knowledge-generating processes
The Relationships Between Goods-Producing and Services-Producing Activities in the US Economy: an Intersectoral Analysis
No full textCambiamento tecnico e crescita endogena: una valutazione critica delle ipotesi del modello di Romer
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Investimenti, consumi e occupazione. Capacità produttiva, domanda effettiva e distribuzione del reddito nel lungo periodo
No full textIn this essay, the theoretical background represented by the classical theory of income distribution and the Keynesian principle of effective demand extended to the long term is used as a guide to identify the problems that the change in productive capacity raises on the long-term relationship between investment, consumption and employment. This theoretical perspective moves away from the neo-kaleckian growth theory, according to which the equilibrium between savings and investment in the-long term is warranted by changes in the steady state degree of capacity utilization.
The essay aims to draw attention to the view that the adjustment of productive capacity to expected demand implies a qualitative change in productive capacity, which is transformed by the producers to acquire the means of production, skills and organization necessary to produce new and existing goods and services in a new way. In particular, the essay focuses on the possible long-term effects arising from feedbacks of this transformation of the productive capacity on employment growth, consumption, production and income. In this theoretical perspective, the essay discusses the relationships between investments, effective demand and productive capacity, and the relationship between changes in productive capacity and labor productivity .
In the last part of the essay, a system of relations between investment, consumption and employment is estimate for the United States and Italy for the period 1960-2013. The results suggest that in our contemporary economies decelerative forces are at work. These forces can essentially be attributed to the reduction in the use of labor per unit of production and to the effects of such a reduction on income and employment growth. The essay concludes with the formulation of some specific hypotheses for a broader empirical analysis, currently underway, of the relationship between investment, consumption and employment
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