Evolutionary economics: In defence of 'vagueness'

Abstract

Evolutionary economics is an increasingly influential but vaguely defined field of economic research. This article discusses different ways of defining evolutionary economics: at its object level, at the level of core concepts and, distinguishing between meaning determinist and meaning finitist interpretations, as a social institution. A meaning finitist interpretation of 'evolutionary economics', referring to evolutionary economics as a social institution, is suggested to provide a positive account of the diversity of attempts to define evolutionary economics, drawing from an evolutionary framework of the diffusion of labels denoting fields of research.