Innovation as a combinatorial process: scarcity, variety, institutional change

Smita Srinivas

Chapter 6 in A Research Agenda for Innovation and Development, 2026, pp 79-95 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: While the term ‘development’ has not entirely unraveled, it represents a hazier descriptor and aspirational goal in 2026 than it did in the 1950s. Several dominant economic explanations have fallen. The chapter points to gaps in the ‘good institutions’ debate and the theoretical opportunity from earlier work on ‘scarcity-induced innovations’. While various types of learning and innovation subsystems may co-exist in so-called developing countries, their institutional variety remains underrecognized. The chapter analyzes differences in institutional combinations that encourage learning and knowledge, and alternate norms about how societies manage innovation. The brief healthcare examples provide some context. The chapter also points to persistent philosophical and methods questions for the economics of innovation: whether societies with different cultural contexts converge to similar patterns of economic activity, and if analysis of institutional archetypes and periods of time other than European or North Atlantic industrial history can move the field of innovation studies forward.

Keywords: Economic Development; Innovation; Institutions; Technological Capabilities; Culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035344338
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035344345.00013 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23832_6

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().