The Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, by Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter

The article examines the evolutionary theory of economic change, created by the two American scientists. The history of writing their joint book is investigated in detail. There are analyzed the theses of their predecessors and the closest allies of evolutionism, as well as the Schumpeterian approach, applied by them. The main methods of economic evolutionism, the nature of the mathematical apparatus and the computer modeling of the processes are considered. The fundamental concept of evolutionary economics is characterized in detail the routine, from which the evolutionary theory of the firm is derived. Special attention is paid to the relationship of the evolutionary theory to the methods and tools of macro-economic policy.