Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Sectors Matter! pp 103–114Cite as

Mesoeconomics: Bridging Micro and Macro in a Schumpeterian Key

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

This paper attempts a fresh look at Schumpeter’s theoretical edifice. The purpose is not to give a comprehensive or complete account of Schumpeter’s approach; magisterial works providing exactly this already exist, such as those by Wolfgang Stolper (1994), Richard Swedberg (1991), Mark Perlman and Charles McCann (1998) and Yuichi Shionoya (1997). Instead, we investigate the theoretical corpus of Schumpeter’s economics with a view to its possible and actual influence on the construction of a modern Neo-Schumpeterian programme. We shall, on the one hand, briefly highlight the generic architecture of economics as inspired by Schumpeter’s work, and, on the other hand, discuss Schumpeter’s specific theoretical positions against this background. Turning to the latter, not only do we draw on Schumpeter’s theoretical work directly but we also try to achieve a deeper understanding of his theory by looking at the way in which he criticises competing positions, in particular those of classical and neoclassical economics. This will provide us with an idea of what Schumpeter thought a good theory to be.

With kind permission of Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, this text was first published in 2007 under the title “The pillars of Schumpeter’s economics: micro, meso, macro”. In Hanusch H, Pyka A (eds) Elgar companion to Neo-Schumpeterian economics, pp 65–77.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The concept of meso assumes an intermediate position in the distinction between micro and macro, and hence presumes that distinction. The micro–macro distinction became popular after the publication of Keynes’s General Theory, in which he demonstrated that the aggregates of individual decisions (micro) of a Walrasian or similar (neo)‘classical’ equilibrium was consistent with various states of the system when defined in terms of aggregates of other (macro) variables, in particular employment, income and money volume. The present-day proponents of the so called “new” classical macroeconomics view the problem differently, but the important point here is that the established distinction between microeconomics as dealing with Walras-type decision variables and macroeconomics as dealing with the aforementioned aggregate variables has survived, and is serving as a powerful taxonomic device and classifier for textbooks and teaching curricula in the discipline. This dichotomy did not exist at the time when Keynes was alive and when Schumpeter wrote his essay on Keynes. Schumpeter suggested using either the term “monetary analysis” or “income analysis” for what today is called macroeconomics, arguing that “(s)ince the aggregates chosen for variables are, with the exception of employment, monetary quantities or expressions, we may also speak of monetary analysis, and, since national income is the central variable, of income analysis” (Schumpeter 1952/1997, p. 282). It is evident that the usage of the terms “microeconomics” and “macroeconomics” is a mere convention, and that we could employ with equal vindication Schumpeter’s terminology, or a similar one, to denote appropriately the distinction between the two sets of variables. Evolutionary economists see no necessity to follow the conventional terminology and usually refer, when talking about microeconomic analysis, to firms, households or behavioural routines and, when talking about macroeconomic analysis, to the division of labour and knowledge or static and dynamic relationships between aggregate magnitudes. The term meso emerges as constituent concept, as we shall see, from an evolutionary perspective that defines micro and macro in this way.

Bibliography

  • Alcouffe A, Kuhn T (2004) Schumpeterian endogenous growth theory and evolutionary economics. J Evol Econ 14:223–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen ES (1994) Evolutionary economics: post-Schumpeterian contributions. Pinter, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Brette O, Mehier C (2005) Veblen’s evolutionary economics revisited through the “micro-meso-macro” analytical framework: the stake for the analysis of clusters of innovation. Paper presented at the EAEPE Conference, Bremen, 10–12 Nov 2005

    Google Scholar 

  • da Graca Moura M (2003) Schumpeter on the integration of theory and history. Eur J Hist Econ Thought 10(2):279–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dopfer K (1993) The generation of novelty in the economic process: an evolutionary concept. In: Dragan JC, Seifert EK, Demetrescu MC (eds) Entropy and bioeconomics. Nagard, Milano, pp 130–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Dopfer K (ed) (2005) The evolutionary foundations of economics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Dopfer K, Foster J, Potts J (2004) Micro–meso–macro. J Evol Econ 14:263–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dopfer K, Potts J (2007) The general theory of economic evolution. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Encinar M-I, Munoz F-F (2006) On novelty and economics: Schumpeter’s paradox. J Evol Econ 16:255–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fagerberg J (2003) Schumpeter and the revival of evolutionary economics: an appraisal of the literature. J Evol Econ 13:125–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foster J (2000) Competitive selection, self-organisation and Joseph A. Schumpeter. J Evol Econ 10:311–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanusch H (ed) (1988) Evolutionary economics: applications of Schumpeter’s ideas. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanusch H, Pyka A (2005) Principles of Neo-Schumpeterian economics. Discussion Paper no. 278, University of Augsburg, Augsburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Heertje A (2004) Schumpeter and methodological individualism. J Evol Econ 14:153–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heertje A (1988) Schumpeter and technical change. In: Hanusch H (ed) Evolutionary economics. Applications of Schumpeter’s ideas. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson GM (1993) Economics and evolution: bringing life back into economics. Polity Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland JH, Holyoak KJ, Nisbett RE, Thagard P (1986) Induction. Processes of inference, learning and discovery. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Loasby JB (1999) Knowledge, institutions and evolution in economics. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mathews JA (2002) Introduction: Schumpeter’s lost chapter. Ind Innov 9(1–2):1–6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalfe JS (1998) Evolutionary economics and creative destruction. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson RR, Winter SG (1982) An evolutionary theory of economic change. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Perlman M, McCann CR (1998) The pillars of economic understanding, vol I, Ideas and traditions. Michigan University Press, Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg N (2000) Schumpeter and the endogeneity of technology: some American perspectives. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schefold B (1986) Schumpeter as a Walrasian Austrian and Keynes as a classical Marshallian. In: Wagener HJ, Drukker JH (eds) The economic law of motions: a Marx-Keynes-Schumpeter centennial. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter JA (1912) Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig [revised English edition, without chapter 7, 1934; chapter 7, in English, in Industry and Innovation (2002) 9 (1/2): 91–142]

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter JA (1939) Business cycles: a theoretical, historical and statistical analysis of the capitalist process. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter JA (1942) Capitalism, socialism and democracy. Harper & Brothers, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter JA (1952/1997) Ten great economists: from Marx to Keynes. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter JA (1954/1986) History of economic analysis. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Shionoya Y (1997) Schumpeter and the idea of social science: a metatheoretical study. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stolper WF (1994) Joseph Alois Schumpeter. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Swedberg R (1991) Schumpeter: a biography. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter SG (1984) Schumpeterian competition in alternative technological regimes. J Econ Behav Organ 5:287–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witt U (2002) How evolutionary is Schumpeter’s theory of economic development. Ind Innov 9(1–2):7–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge comments and suggestions by Georg D. Blind, Patrick Baur, Charles McCann, Stuart McDonald, Joseph Clark, Peter Fleissner, John Foster, Jason Potts, Andreas Pyka, Mike Richardson, Markus Schwaninger and Ulrich Witt.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of St Gallen, St Gallen, Switzerland

    Kurt Dopfer

Authors
  1. Kurt Dopfer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kurt Dopfer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Socioeconomics, Agroscope, Tänikon 1, Ettenhausen, 8356, Switzerland

    Stefan Mann

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Dopfer, K. (2011). Mesoeconomics: Bridging Micro and Macro in a Schumpeterian Key. In: Mann, S. (eds) Sectors Matter!. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18126-9_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18126-9_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-18125-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-18126-9

  • eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation