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Entrepreneurship, evolution and the human mind

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Innovation, Industrial Dynamics and Structural Transformation

Abstract

Schumpeterian ‘development from within’ requires imagination, skill and motivation; so does Cattaneo’s ‘psychology of wealth’. Neither can be encompassed by models that rely on deductive rationality, but are twin products of Knightian uncertainty, where the absence of demonstrably correct procedures allows individuals to create domain-limited mental structures. The human mind (as studied by Smith, Marshall and Hayek), is a product of biological evolution which supports the evolution of knowledge and of economic systems. These are non-biological processes; both require (fallible) bounds to uncertainty, which are provided by (evolving) formal and informal organisation, including institutions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

    Brian J. Loasby

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  1. Brian J. Loasby
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Str. 3, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Uwe Cantner (Chair for Microeconomics) (Chair for Microeconomics)

  2. CESPRI-Bocconi University, Via Sarfatti 25, 20136, Milan, Italy

    Franco Malerba

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Loasby, B.J. (2007). Entrepreneurship, evolution and the human mind. In: Cantner, U., Malerba, F. (eds) Innovation, Industrial Dynamics and Structural Transformation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-49465-2_3

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