In our time, we face stagnating production and employment but also, more \nobreak generally, disappointing results in the provision of services that importantly affect our lives – in education, healthcare and social welfare, in transport and communications. To combat these ills one sole therapy is increasingly invoked: greater competition. Here, I am not referring to the idea that, in well-defined situations from the point of view of structure and of the actors involved, the stimulus from competitors, together with other forces, actions and stimuli, may revive waning energies through a spirit of emulation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alchian, A. (1950). Uncertainty, evolution and economic theory. Journal of Political Economy, 58, 211–221.
Bannister, R. C. (1979). Social Darwinism. Science and myth in Anglo-American social thought. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Beckner, M. (1968). The biological way of thought. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Berlin, I. (1969) Two concepts of liberty. In Four essays on liberty. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Bonifati, G. (2003). Concorrenza come processo di interazione, agenti e sistemi del mercato. A note from the Information Society as a Complex System (ISCOM) discussion group. Department of Social, Cognitive and Quantitative Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
Caldwell, B. J. (1988). Hayek’s transformation. History of Political Economy, 20(4), 513–541.
Darwin, C. (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. In The collected works of Charles Darwin (Vol. 16). London, UK: William Pickering, 1988.
Darwin, C. (1887). The life and letters of Charles Darwin, including an autobiographical chapter (Vol. I, F. Darwin, Ed.). London, UK: John Murray Publishers.
Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. London, UK: John Murray Publishers.
Darwin, C. (1958). The autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809–1882 with original omissions restored (N. Barlow, Ed.). London, UK: Collins.
Denis, A. (2004). Two rhetorical strategies of laissez-faire. Journal of Economic Methodology, 3, 341–357.
Donzelli, F. (1988). Introduction to F.A. von Hayek, Conoscenza, mercato, pianificazione. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Forsyth, M. (1988). Hayek’s bizarre liberalism, a critique. Political Studies, 36(2), 235–250.
Foster, J. (1997). The analytical foundations of evolutionary economics: From biological analogy to economic self-organization. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 8(4), 427–451.
Friedman, M. (1953). The methodology of positive economics. In M. Friedman (Ed.), Essays in positive economics (pp.3–43). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Garegnani, P. (1976). On a change in the notion of equilibrium in recent work on value: A comment on Samuelson. In M. Brown, K. Sato, & P. Zarembcka (Eds.), Essays in modern capital theory. Amsterdam, New York: North Holland.
Gould, S. J. (1980). The Panda’s Thumb: More reflections on natural history. New York: Norton.
Gould, S. J. (1982). The meaning of punctuated equilibrium and its role in validating a hierarchical approach to macroevolution. In R. Milkman (Ed.), Perspectives on evolution (pp.83–104). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.
Gould, S. J. (2002). The structure of evolutionary theory. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Gould, S. J., & Lewontin, R. C. (1979). The spandrels of San Marco and the panglossian paradigm: A critique of the adaptationist program. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. Biological Science, 205, 581–598.
Hall, R. E. & Hitch, C. (1939). Price theory and business behaviour. Oxford Economic Papers, 2(1),12–45.
Hawkins, M. (1997). Social Darwinism in European and American thought 1860–1945: Nature as model and nature as threat. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
von Hayek, F. A. (1940). Socialist calculation: The competitive solution. Economica, 7(26), 125–149, reprinted in von Hayek, F. A. (1948). Individualism and economic order. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
von Hayek, F. A. (1945). The use of knowledge in society. American Economic Review, 35(4), 519–530, reprinted in von Hayek, F.A. (1948). Individualism and Economic Order. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
von Hayek, F. A. (1948). The meaning of competition. In Individualism and economic order (pp. 92–106). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
von Hayek, F. A. (1952). The sensory order: An inquiry into the foundations of theoretical psychology. London, UK: Routledge.
von Hayek, F. A. (1960). The constitution of liberty. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
von Hayek, F. A. (1978). New studies in philosophy, politics, economics and the history of ideas. London, UK: Routledge.
von Hayek, F. A. (1973). Law, legislation and liberty, Vol. I: Rules and order. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
von Hayek, F. A. (1976). Law, legislation and liberty, Vol. III: The political order of a free people. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
von Hayek, F. A. (1991). The fatal conceit: The errors of socialism (W. W. Bartley III, Ed.). Chicago, IL: University Of Chicago Press.
Hill, L. (2001). The hidden theology of Adam Smith. European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, (8)1,1–29.
Hodge, M. J. S., & Kohn, D. (1985). The immediate origins of natural selection. In D. Kohn (Ed.), The Darwinian heritage (pp. 185–206), Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hodgson, G. M. (1993). Economics and evolution: Bringing life back into economics. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Hofstadter, R. (1955). Social Darwinism in American thought, 1860–1915. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Ingrao, B., & Israel, G. (1990). The invisible hand. Economic equilibrium in the history of science (I. McGilvray, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
James, W. (1987). Essays, comments and reviews (F. H. Burkhardt, F. Bowers, & I. K. Skrupskelis, Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kay, N. M. (1995). Alchian and the ‘Alchian Thesis.’ Journal of Economic Methodology, 2(2), 281–286.
Keynes, J. M. (1971). The general theory of employment, interest and money. In The collected writings of John Maynard Keynes (Vol. VII). London, UK: St Martin’s Press [first edition, 1936].
Kohn, D. (1989). Darwin’s ambiguity: The secularization of biological meaning. British Journal for the History of Science, 22, 215–239.
La Vergata, A. (1985). Images of Darwin: A historiographic review. In D. Kohn (Ed.), The Darwinian heritage (pp. 901–972). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
La Vergata A. (1990a). L’equilibrio e la guerra della natura. Dalla Teologia naturale al darwinismo. Naples, Italy: Morano.
La Vergata, A. (1990b). Nonostante Malthus. Fecondità, popolazioni e armonia della natura, 1700–1900. Torino, Italy: Bollati Boringhieri.
Lakoff, G., & Nuñez, G. E. (2000). Where mathematics comes from: How the embodied mind brings mathematics into being. New York: Basic Books.
Lane, D. A. (2002). Complexity and local interaction: Towards a theory of industrial districts, in complexity and industrial clusters (A. Quadrio Curzio & M. Fortis, Eds.). Heidelberg-New York: Phisica-Verlag.
Lester, R. A. (1946) Shortcomings of marginal analysis for wage-employment problems. American Economic Review, 36,62–82.
Lukes, S. (1973). Individualism. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Maione, G. (2003). Le Merci Intelligenti: Miti e Realtà del Capitalismo Contemporaneo. Milan, Italy: Bruno Mondadori.
Malthus, T. R. (1798). An essay on the principle of population, as it affects the future improvement of society, with remarks on the speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other writers. London, UK: J. Johnson.
Malthus, T. R. (1979). An essay on the principle of population; and, a summary view of the principle of population (A. Flew, Ed.). Harmondsworth, UK: UK Penguin Books.
Manier, E. (1978). The young Darwin and his cultural circle. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: D. Reidel Publishing House.
Marx, K. (1962). Capital: A critique of political economy, vol. III. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House.
Marx, K. (1969). Theories of surplus value, vol. 2. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Maxfield, R., & Lane, D. A. (1997). Foresight, complexity and strategy. In W. F. Arthur, S. Durlauf, & D. A. Lane (Eds.), Economy as a complex, evolving system II. Redwood City, CA: Addison Wesley.
Mayr, E. (1982). The growth of biological thought. diversity, evolution and inheritance. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Menger, C. (1871). Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehere, Vienna, Austria: Wilhelm Braumüller, Authors Translation.
Menger, C. (1883). Untersuchungen über die Methode der Sozialwissenschaften und der politischen Ökonomie insbesondere. Leipzig Drucker & Humblot; L. Schneider (Ed.), Problems of economics and sociology (in English). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1963.
Nardozzi, G. (2004). Miracolo e declino. L’Italia fra concorrenza e protezione. Bari, Italy: Laterza.
Needham, R. (1975). Polythetic classification: convergence and consequences. Man, 10, 349–369.
Nietzsche, F. (1967). On the geneology of morals: A polemic.New York: Vintage Books.
Nussbaum, M. C. (1988). Nature, function and capability: Aristotle on political distribution. Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy (Suppl. Vol., pp. 145–188). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
Ospovat, D. (1979). Darwin after Malthus. Journal of the History of Biology, 12, 211–230.
Parboni, R. (1984). Moneta e Monetarismo. Bologna, Italy: IlMulino.
Paul, E. F. (1988). Liberalism, unintended orders and evolutionism. Political Studies, 36(2), 251–272.
Penrose, E. (1952). Biological analogies in the theory of the firm. American Economic Review, 42(5), 804–819.
Penrose, E. (1953). Biological analogies in the theory of the firm: Rejoinder. American Economic Review, 43(4), 603–609.
Picchio, A. (1992). Social Reproduction. The Political Economy of the Labour Market. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Ricardo, D. (1973). Letters 1819 – June 1821. Vol. VIII of P. Sraffa and M. Dobb (Eds.), The works and correspondence of David Ricardo. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Richardson, G. B. (1972). The organisation of industry. Economic Journal, 82(327), 883–896.
Rorty, R. (1979). Philosophy and the mirror of nature. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Rosenberg, N. (1976). Perspectives on technology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Samuelson, P. (1970). Reflections on the recent Federal Reserve policy. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 2(1),33–44.
Schweber, S.S. (1977). The origin of the Origin revisited.Journal of the History of Biology, 10(2), 229–316.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1992). Capitalism, socialism and democracy.London, UK: Routledge.
Simmel, G. (1908). Soziologie. Leipzig, Germany: Dunker & Humblot.
Sen, A. K. (1993). Capability and well-being. In A. K. Sen & M. C. Nussbaum (Eds.), The quality of life. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
Sen, A. K. (2002). On the Darwinian view of progress (1991). In A. K. Sen, Rationality and freedom. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Smith, B. A. (1986). Austrian economics and Austrian philosophy. In W. Grassl & B. Smith (Eds.). Austrian economics: historical and philosophical background. London: Croom Helm.
Smith, B. A. (1990). Aristotle, Menger, Mises: an essay in the metaphysics of economics. In B.J. Caldwell (Ed.), Carl Menger and his legacy in economics. Annual Supplement to History of political economy (Vol. 22). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Sober, E. (1981). Holism, individualism and the units of selection. In E. Sober (Ed.), Conceptual issues in evolutionary biology: An anthology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Viner, J. (1972). The role of providence in the social order. Princeton, NY: Princeton University Press.
Wittgenstein, L. (1975). Note sul Ramo d’oro di Fraser. Milano: Adelphi. Italian translation of Bemerkungen uber Frazers The Golden Bough, Synthese, XVII, 1967.
Young, R. M. (1985). Darwinism is social. In D. Kohn (Ed.), The Darwinian heritage (pp. 609–638). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ginzburg, A. (2009). Biological Metaphors in Economics: Natural Selection and Competition. In: Lane, D., Pumain, D., van der Leeuw, S.E., West, G. (eds) Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change. Methodos Series, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9663-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9663-1_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9662-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9663-1
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)