What Can Economics Learn from Post-Darwinist Developments in Biological Evolutionary Theory Represented by S. Kauffman and L. Margulis? — An Application Study in Asian Economic Systems

Abstract

In the past couple of decades, there has been a conspicuous development in biological evolutionary theories, which are more or less different from traditional neo-Darwinism. Among them, the biological self-organization theory of Stuart Kauffman and Serial Endosymbiosis Theory by Lynn Margulis deserve most attention in two respects: one is that they provided persuasive explanations for the course of evolution different from orthodox neo-Darwinism, and the other is that their theories are considered to be applicable to certain aspects of economic phenomena. By its nature, the self-organization theory could be more applied to the rising phase of an economy, whereas the SET theory could be basically applied to the defensive case of an economy in a survival crisis. This paper first gives a brief summary of recent developments in post-Darwinist types of evolutionary theories, putting particular focus on the above two theories, and next tries an application study to analyze some empirical cases in Asian economies based on these two theories.