Micro-Meso-Macro

17 Pages Posted: 17 May 2005

See all articles by Kurt Dopfer

Kurt Dopfer

University of St. Gallen - SEPS: Economics and Political Sciences

John Foster

University of Queensland - School of Economics

Jason Potts

University of Queensland - School of Economics

Abstract

Building on the ontology of evolutionary realism recently proposed by Dopfer and Potts (forthcoming), we develop an analytical framework for evolutionary economics with a micro-meso-macro architecture. The motive for reconception is to make clear the highly complex and emergent nature of existence and change in economic evolution. For us, the central insight is that an economic system is a population of rules, a structure of rules, and a process of rules. The economic system is a rule-system contained in what we call the meso. From the evolutionary perspective, one cannot directly sum micro into macro. Instead, we conceive of an economic system as a set of meso units, where each meso consists of a rule and its population of actualizations. The proper analytical structure of evolutionary economics is in terms of micro-meso-macro. Micro refers to the individual carriers of rules and the systems they organize, and macro consists of the population structure of systems of meso. Micro structure is between the elements of the meso, and macro structure is between meso elements. The upshot is an ontologically coherent framework for analysis of economic evolution as change in the meso domain - in the form of what we call a meso trajectory - and a way of understanding the micro-processes and macro-consequences involved.We believe that the micro-meso-macro analytical framework can greatly enhance the focus, clarity, and, ultimately, power, of evolutionary economic theory.

Suggested Citation

Dopfer, Kurt and Foster, John and Potts, Jason, Micro-Meso-Macro. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=721599

Kurt Dopfer (Contact Author)

University of St. Gallen - SEPS: Economics and Political Sciences ( email )

Rosenbergstrasse 51
St. Gallen, St. Gallen CH-9000
Switzerland

John Foster

University of Queensland - School of Economics ( email )

Brisbane, QLD 4072
Australia
61 7 3365 6780 (Phone)
61 7 3365 7299 (Fax)

Jason Potts

University of Queensland - School of Economics ( email )

Brisbane, QLD 4072
Australia