Agents of change

Caroline Gerschlager

ULB Institutional Repository from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles

Abstract: Evolutionary accounts in economics have offered a new look at economic development. Advancing on the limited cognitive capacities, they have shown that structural change follows technological, institutional and ideological paths. The present examination suggests an add-on to this cognitive portrayal of change. Drawing on Schumpeter's theory of innovation and Adam Smith's theory of knowledge, it analyzes human motives as important drivers of development. It brings in the dynamic nature of human motives and particularly discusses the human will as a requirement of change. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

Keywords: Adam Smith's parable of the poor man's son; Change of motives; Human motivation; Innovation; Knowledge growth; Schumpeter's entrepreneur; Will (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-07
Note: SCOPUS: ar.j
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published in: Journal of evolutionary economics (2012) v.22 n° 3,p.413-441

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:ulb:ulbeco:2013/184428

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://hdl.handle.ne ... lb.ac.be:2013/184428

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in ULB Institutional Repository from ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Benoit Pauwels ().