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Generic Institutionalism Die approbierte Originalversion dieser Dissertation ist an der Hauptbibliothek der Technischen Universität Wien aufgestellt (http://www.ub.tuwien.ac.at). The approved original version of this thesis is available at the main library of the Vienna University of Technology (http://www.ub.tuwien.ac.at/englweb/). D I S S E R T A T I O N Generic Institutionalism Evolution – Institution – Complexity ausgeführt zum Zwecke der Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktor der Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften (Dr.rer.soc.oec) unter der Leitung und Begutachtung von Univ.Prof.Dr. Gerhard Hanappi University of Technology Vienna, Institute for Mathematical Methods in Economics, Research Group Economics und Prof.Dr. Wolfram Elsner University of Bremen, Institute for Institutional- and Innovation Economics eingereicht an der Technischen Universität Wien Fakultät für Informatik von Mag. Manuel Wäckerle Matr.nr.: 0025397 Wien, am 5.10.2010 Unterschrift (Wäckerle) Unterschrift (Hanappi) Unterschrift (Elsner) ii We‘re all gonna be ... Just dirt in the ground Tom Waits iii Kurzfassung Die vorliegende Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit dem wissenschaftlichen Feld der evolutionären institutionellen Ökonomie. Generell verteidigt sie die Idee eines ‚Generischen Institutionalismus‘, welcher auf folgenden Ebenen wissenschaftstheoretisch kritisch hinterfragt wird: Ontologie, Heuristik und Methodologie. Die ontologische Ebene setzt sich mit der Realität von ökonomischen Einheiten und Prozessen auseinander, wobei in dieser Arbeit soziale Relationen – in Welt, Geist und Natur eingebettet – und deren endogene Entwicklung als Fundament der ökonomischen Realität angenommen werden. Wir sprechen daher von einer Realitätsauffassung die dem kritischen Naturalismus beziehungsweise der evolutionären Erkenntnistheorie am ähnlichsten erscheint. Ein solches naturalistisches Realitätsverständnis muss sozial-kritisch reflektiert sein, um Determinismen vorzubeugen, die das menschliche Handlungsvermögen und dessen pfadabhängige Entwicklung absolut deklarieren möchten, insofern wird dieser Prämisse auch aktiv nachgegangen in der Arbeit. Die heuristische Ebene beschäftigt sich mit der Problementwicklung in der evolutionären institutionellen Ökonomie, also mit der Frage wie wir gesellschaftliche Probleme beziehungsweise gesellschaftlichen Wandel als Problem konzipieren können. Zur Bewältigung dieser Frage und zur Identifikation spezifischer heuristischer Vehikel wird auf das Erbe einschlägiger wissenschaftlicher Größen des Feldes zurückgegriffen, wie etwa Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950) und Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002). Diese Autoren widmeten einen Großteil ihres Forscherlebens der kumulativen Dialektik menschlichen Handlungsvermögen und struktureller Veränderung. Emergente als auch dauerhafte gesellschaftliche Strukturen werden daher in diesem Kontext als Institutionen verstanden. Die methodologische Ebene der Dissertation geht einen Schritt weiter als die Heuristische und setzt sich mit konkreten Methoden zur ökonomischen Modellierung der heuristischen Problemwelten auseinander. Diese Methoden stammen und werden entnommen aus dem Feld der Komplexität, da institutionelle Systeme als komplexe adaptive Systeme hier verstanden werden. Es wird speziell verwiesen auf die Methodik der agenten-basierten Modellierung sowie der dynamischen sozialen Netzwerkanalyse. Zuletzt werden ein konkretes Modell und dessen zugehörige Computer-Simulation generischen institutionellen Wandels präsentiert, wo beide methodischen Ansätze integrativ eingearbeitet sind. iv Abstract The presented dissertation deals with the scientific field of evolutionary institutional economics. Its major emphasis is to defend the idea of ‘Generic Institutionalism’ in terms of scientific theory, which is investigated along three meta-theoretical layers: ontology, heuristics and methodology. The ontological level focuses on the reality of economic units and processes, whereby social relations – embedded in world, mind and nature – and their endogenous development serve as a host for economic reality in this thesis. Hence the postulated conception of reality is at best comparable with the ontology of critical naturalism and respectively evolutionary epistemology. Such a naturalistic picture of economic reality needs to be socially critically reflected in order to guard against determinisms, which want to declare human agency and its path-dependent development as absolute. Insofar this premise is actively followed in the thesis. The heuristic level emphasises the framing of problems in evolutionary institutional economics. Therefore it deals with the question of how we may design and conceive societal problems and respectively how we may design and conceive societal change as a problem. For the problem of framing and the identification of certain heuristic devices it is suggested to refer to the heritage of pertinent scholars from the field, like Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992), Joseph Alois Schumpeter (1883-1950) and Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002). These authors have devoted a respective part of their life-time as researchers for the cumulative dialectics between human agency and structural change. Conclusively, emergent as well as durable societal structures are understood as institutions in this context. The methodological level of the dissertation goes a step further than the heuristic one and focuses on concrete methods for the economic modelling of such heuristic problem worlds. These methods stem and are taken from the field of complexity, because institutional systems are understood as complex adaptive systems here. Therefore it is especially referred to the methodology of agent-based modelling and dynamic social network analysis. At last, a concrete model and its corresponding computer simulation of generic institutional change is presented, where both methods are incorporated in an integrated way. v vi Acknowledgements The dissertation would have not been possible without funding of the Austrian Central Bank. The thesis is part of a research project, leaded by Hardy Hanappi, on the ‘Evolution of institutions in new challenging socio-economic environments, with special focus on the Austrian Central Bank (OeNB)’ (Jubiläumsfonds – OeNB – project number 13350). First of all I want to thank foremost Hardy Hanappi and Wolfram Elsner for their stimulating support as supervisors of the thesis as well as for their dedicated work in EAEPE. The European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy serves as an inspiring platform of heterodox, evolutionary and pluralist economic thought. Hence a lot of the ideas, concepts and critiques incorporated in this thesis are connected with this community. Further I want to thank the organisers, directors and especially the participants of the summer schools on evolutionary economics in Graz 2007 and in Jena 2008 for enjoyable as well as critical discussions and talks. I want to thank our team of the Research Group Economics at the Technical University of Vienna for a really exceptional working atmosphere: Franz X. Hof, Alexia Fürnkranz- Prskawetz, Inga Freund and primarily my closest colleagues Wolfgang Radax and Bernhard Rengs for their year-long durable support and friendship. Last but not least I am very grateful to my brother Thomas Wäckerle, who had the painstaking job of proofreading the thesis. vii viii Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ix 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. EVOLUTION – ONTOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS 5 2.1. A brief history of evolutionary economics 5 2.2. Ontological strands 9 2.3. Dualistic approaches 18 Neo-Schumpeterian economics 18 Schumpeterian 25 2.4. Naturalistic approaches 32 Darwinian naturalism 33 Generic naturalism 43 Critical naturalism 61 3. INSTITUTION – GENERIC HEURISTICS 89 3.1. What are institutions? 89 3.2. Veblen’s heritage 96 American institutionalism 98 Instinct, habit and technology 117 Instinct, cognition and learning 124 From circular cumulative causation to evolutionary environmental policy 127 3.3. Hayek’s heritage 136 Money, Hayek, Keynes and banking 138 ix Spontaneous order 146 Rules of conduct and Hayek's cultural evolution 162 From group selection to nested banking 171 3.4. Schumpeter’s heritage 200 Entrepreneurship, innovation and business cycles 209 Credit, institutions and capital 222 Technology 229 From meso-trajectories to a democracy design enabling regional innovation 237 3.5. Bourdieu’s heritage 263 Habitus and the theory of practice 265 From communities of pratice to evolutionary education policy 277 4. COMPLEXITY – METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 283 4.1. Power within complex systems 286 Power as a naturalistic network property 288 4.2. Agent-based modelling and dynamic social network analysis 292 Notes on agent-based modelling 293 Notes on dynamic social network analysis 294 4.3. Evolution of institutional systems 297 The model 298 Data and results 317 Interpretation 333 5. CONCLUDING REMARKS 335 BIBLIOGRAPHY 339 APPENDIX 347 x 1. Introduction Generic Institutionalism claims to advance the traditional Nomological Institutionalism. Institutional change was majorly captured in a mere deductive way, so that pre-analytical visions form universal laws (nomos) from which all other laws or rules may be deducted. History of economic thought has proven that institutions change and appear in manifold ways. Hence it seems obvious to assume that institutional statements or situations cannot be inherited from a single law. This assumption
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