Darwinism in Economics: From Analogy to Continuity

Christian Cordes

Papers on Economics and Evolution from Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group

Abstract: Currently there is an ongoing discussion about how Darwinian concepts should be harnessed to further develop economic theory. Two approaches to this question, Universal Darwinism and the continuity hypothesis, are presented in this paper. It is shown whether abstract principles can be derived from Darwin’s explanatory model of biological evolution that can be applied to cultural evolution. Furthermore, the relation of the ontological basis of biological and cultural evolution is clarified. Some examples illustrate the respective potential of the two approaches to serve as a starting-point for theory development.

Keywords: Economic selection theory; Economic theory development; Darwinism; Cultural evolution; Continuity hypothesis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 B52 A12 D00 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-evo, nep-hpe and nep-pke
Date: 2004-11
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Journal Article: Darwinism in economics: from analogy to continuity (2006)
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