Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
It is not self-evident that the theoretical constructs of evolutionary economics can
simply be transferred to themes and issues in economic geography (Boschma and
Frenken, 2006). Evolutionary economics does not of er a unii ed body of theory, but con-
sists of a heterogeneous mix of dif erent perspectives. If the evolutionary perspective must
be seen as ambiguous, then what is the case with regard to its companion, co-evolution?
The basic element of the evolutionary approach is a population that develops and
successfully asserts itself in competition with others by means of mutation, selection and
retention, mostly in a changing environment. The dei nition of a population depends
largely on the common practice of individual disciplines. Economic geographers tend to
think of a population of i rms that form a sector and are based on a specii c (new) tech-
nology. This idea, that a technology, a sector or region depending on specii c technology
develops in accordance with certain principles of change, selection and reinforcement
in a long-term process, that is, in an 'evolutionary' manner, has long been augmented
by the idea that this process is only possible in association with accompanying dimen-
sions. Is this 'co-evolution', or is it 'environment'? In the following, the chapter presents
a more restricted understanding of the concept of co-evolution that refers solely to the
parallel and reciprocal development of a second population. Malerba (2006, p. 17)
recently remarked that 'coevolution goes at the heart of the dynamic analysis of innova-
tion and the evolution of industries', but he also imposed a qualii cation: 'The challenge
for research here is to go to a much i ner analysis at both empirical and theoretical
levels, and to move from the statement that everything is coevolving with everything
else to the identii cation of what is coevolving with what, how intense is this process and
whether indeed there is a bi-direction of causality' (p. 18). Initially it seems plausible that
the development of a sector or a region is accompanied, if not determined, by parallel
development in quite dif erent areas of social life. However, if this idea is not developed
more precisely in theoretical terms then it will revert quite quickly to historical narrative.
Figure 20.1 summarises the basic ideas of this chapter in taking up the central issues of
an evolutionary approach; that is, emerging varieties in and between populations (het-
erogeneity), the working of selection mechanisms in favour of only one or some of these
variants, and mechanisms supporting the long-term survival of variants (retention). It
is claimed that the emergence of a co-evolving (institutional), 'second', population can
Population
v
s
r
Co-population
v
s
r
v = variation
s = selection
r = retention
Figure 20
.
1
A model of two co-evolving populations
