Anticipating Nelson and Winter: Jack Downie's theory of evolutionary economic change

John Nightingale ()
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John Nightingale: Faculty of Commerce and Administration, Griffith University, Nathan, 4111, Australia An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, by Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter continues to have great influence on evolutionary economic thought. While their modeling techniques and the breadth of their vision for evolutionary theorising must be seen as seminal and effective innovation in economic theory, they were not the first inventors of such a theory. Close examination reveals that much of the economic theory was anticipated by Jack Downie whose book, The Competitive Process, was published in 1958. The extent of anticipation is remarkable, with not merely the two elements of population ecology, selection and mutation, but the way in which they are theorised to work being replicated by Nelson and Winter.

Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 1997, vol. 7, issue 2, 147-167

Keywords: Evolutionary economics; History of economic thought; Population thinking; Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B31 L2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
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