Institutions and innovation in economic development [Elektronische Ressource] : Schumpeterian perspectives / vorgelegt von Alexander Ebner

Pocket Mailbox

Description

PDF scan to USB stick

Informations

• Publié par: goethe_universitat_frankfurt_am_main
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 14 Mo

Extrait

Institutions and Innovation in Economic Development:
Schumpeterian Perspectives
Inaugural-Dissertation
zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades
des Fachbereichs Wirtschaftswissenschaften
der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universitat
Frankfurt am Main
vorgelegt
von
Dip!. Volkswirt Dip!. Politologe Alexander Ebner
aus Wiesbaden
2002
\
• Professor Dr. Bertram Schefold Erstgutachter:
Zweitgutachter: Dr. Malcolm Dunn
Tag der Promotion: 17. Oktober 2002
... ~
,
• Contents
Introduction 1
9 2 Schum peter: the theory and the vision
2.1 Theoretical orientation: equilibrium and evolution 9
13 2.2 Conceptual substance: innovation and competition
Solving the Schumpeterian paradox: history and institutions in economic analysis 24 2.3
3 The historist impact on Schumpeterian thought 33
3.1 Approaching the "Schmollerprogramm" of the German historical school 33
3.2 Schmoller's evolutionary approach to economic change 38
Gradualism, punctualism, and the principle of continuity 42 3.3
4 Theory and history of modern capitalism 47
Capitalism as an object of inquiry: from Marx to Weber 47 4.1
4.2 Sombart's approach to modem capitalism 52
4.3 An outline of Sombartian entrepreneurship 58
4.4 Historical theory and economic styles 63
4.5 Schumpeter and the German historical school: a summarising outlook 68
Schumpeter's capitalism: an institutional analysis 5 73
5.1 The institutional dynamism of capitalist development 73
Development functions and rationalisation 5.2 78
5.3 Business cycles and development phases 83
6 Explorations in Schumpeterian entrepreneurship 90
6.1 Austrian themes in 90
6.2 The entrepreneurial function 97
6.3 Economic behaviour and institutional variety 103
6.4 The historicity of entrepreneurship 108
Entrepreneurship, market process and evolution 7 119
7.1 Competition and the division of knowledge 119
Alertness and coordination in the market process 7.2 126
7.3 Evolution, cognition and entrepreneurial types 133
7.4 Routines, capabilities and the firm 139
\
• 8 Economic development and varieties of entrepreneurship 147
8.1 Schumpeterian perspectives in developing economies 147
8.2 Markets, institutions and transaction costs 152
Innovation and coordination: a typology of entrepreneurship 157 8.3
Paradigms in entrepreneurship and innovation 165 9
Recombining and technology 165 9.1
9.2 Paradigms and trajectories 170
The paradigmatic character of entrepreneurship 176 9.3
In search for the microfoundations of economic growth 183 9.4
10 Institutional dimensions of innovation 195
10.1 networks and collective entrepreneurship 195
10.2 Approaching systems of innovation 199
Catch up growth and technology assimilation 205 10.3
11 Embedded entrepreneurship 213
11.1 Styles, systems and trajectories 213
11.2 The institutional embeddedness of entrepreneurship 221
Implications for innovation policies 226 11.3
12 Conclusion 237
13 References 246
,
• List of Figures
Figure 3.1 Schmoller's scheme of economic development 39 5.1 Schumpeter's chronology of Kondratieff cycles 85
Figure 6.1 Schumpeterian types of economic agents 101 6.2 phases of capitalist development 110
Figure 8.1 A typology of entrepreneurship 163 9.1 Uncertainty and types of innovation 168
Figure 9.2 Entrepreneurship and techno-economic paradigm 181 11.1 Dimensions and characteristics of economic style 218
Figure 11.2 Development functions in systems of innovation 222
\
• \
• 1 INTRODUCTION
Joseph A. Schumpeter is widely regarded as one of the most influential economists of
the twentieth century. His works contain various efforts in economic theorising on
problems of growth, development and innovation, yet also involving sociological issues
that provided insights for the analysis of entrepreneurship. This comprehensiveness,
however, is based on a persisting concern with the dynamism of economic
development, viewed in the institutional setting of capitalist market economies. Thus,
Schumpeter may be assessed as a theorist of the developmental pattern of modem
capitalism. Indeed, current discussions on the determinants of economic development
have contributed to a renaissance of Schumpeterian thought, reflecting the rapid
technological and institutional changes that shape the economic performance of both
industrialised and industrialising economies. A distinctly Schumpeterian approach has
evolved, that deals with economic development as an evolutionary process, driven by
technological innovations. This perspective implies a prominent role for historical and
institutional aspects in the analysis of processes. Nonetheless, so far these
specific aspects of Schum peter's theorising have been largely neglected as, although
they constitute a fundamental continuity in the proceedings of the corresponding
research agenda. Moreover, the institutional dimension of the Schumpeterian
perspective contributes to its persistent relevance, as it underlines the relationship
between institutional change and technological innovation, thus pointing to the
outstanding role of entrepreneurship in economic change.
Accounting for this analytical setting, then, the following chapters reconsider the
Schumpeterian perspective on institutions and innovation in economic development.
Basically, the exposition proceeds with a theoretical reconstruction, conceptual
modification and policy-oriented application of the institutional dimension of
Schumpeter's approach.l This institutional dimension highlights the core of
Schumpeterian concerns, namely the internal mechanism that drives the evolutionary
dynamism of capitalist market economies. In particular, the intellectual context of these
concerns in Schumpeter's theorising is taken to the fore, that is primarily the German
Historical School, which inspired the concept of economic sociology, but also the
tradition of Austrian economics. Accordingly, an analytical emphasis in the exposition
is on the matter of entrepreneurship, which is examined regarding its explanatory status
in diverse theoretical frameworks. Beyond the domain of the history of economic
thought, then, contemporary approaches under scrutiny include market process theory
and evolutionary economics, among others, accompanied by related discussions on
institutional affairs in development economics, endogenous growth theory and the
economics of innovation. In this context, the latter approaches may be subsumed under
the concept of a neo-Schumpeterian synthesis which attempts to regain and update
2
essential aspects of Schumpeter' s thought in application to current issues. Again, this
underlines the significance of a reconsideration of the substantial content of
Schumpeterian thought.
Three arguments guide the orientation of the study. First, the Schumpeterian perspective
approaches the relationship between institutions and innovation in economic
1 In accordance with Blaug's distinction between rational and historical reconstruction, both methods are
taken to the fore. The former aims at a reconstruction in the context of present discussions, whereas the
latter utilises the historical context as a relevant framework of analysis (Blaug 1997: 213).
2 In particular, these revitalised positions have been said to exhibit a process orientation from a socio­
economic point of view, focusing on entrepreneurship, innovation and competition (Giersch 1984: 105n).
\
• 2
development, understood as an evolutionary process that is a historically specific
characteristic of modem capitalism. The Schumpeterian notion of entrepreneurship,
denoted as the capability for introducing novelty by means of economic leadership, is
meant to address the fundamental institutional factors in that process. It is
complemented by types of entrepreneurship that focus more specifically on coordination
efforts. In this sense, a typology of needs to address also the related
paradigmatic qualities regarding the formation of technological and institutional change.
Second, the entrepreneurial function may be executed by various economic agents in
diverse institutional settings. Entrepreneurial capability is embedded in the context of a
historically specific institutional setting which shapes the articulation of
entrepreneurship and thus the innovation performance of firms and industries. Third, the
patterns of economic growth and development in various nations and regions are
marked by these distinct entrepreneurial capabilities, in terms of an embedded
entrepreneurship. This position allows for elaborating on the institutional foundations of
innovation policies in the stimulation and coordination of technological change, framed
by complex strategies for the promotion of economic development and structural
change.
Schumpeter's approach to economic development aims to achieve an integrated
theoretical, statistical, historical and institutional analysis of the mechanism and
contours of economic evolution in the setting of modem capitalism. It should offer an
endogenous approach, dealing with internal factors of change that reach beyond the
impact of initial conditions by focussing on those factors that evolve only