Economic growth and technological change : an evolutionary interpretation

The aim of this paper is to apply insights from evolutionary economic theory to the question of what can explain recent trends in economic growth, with emphasis on the role of technological change. Obviously, a basic question that precedes this question is "what is evolutionary economic theory"? The answer to this is not simple. In mainstream economics, it is clear that the term "neoclassical growth model" refers to Solow's model (e.g., Solow, 1970), and the term "endogenous growth models" refers to a relatively limited set of models, that can reasonably be described by perhaps four prototypes (Romer, 1990; Lucas; 1988; Aghion and Howitt; 1992; Rebelo; 1991). However, even when attention is limited to growth theory, it is impossible to define "the evolutionary growth model".