Technological Change And Network Effects In Growth Regimes

This volume argues that network effects have a significant impact on economic systems, particularly in terms of technological change and economic growth. The book focuses on analyzing and modeling this relationship, using microeconomics to explain sectoral dynamics and then aggregating them to macroeconomic growth rates. The author's approach is innovative and aims to fill the gap in existing economic growth theories. The book includes a discussion of network effects, a methodology, and a case study on the emergence of information and communication technology. It will be relevant to those interested in theoretical economics, growth theory, innovation economics, agent-based modeling, and industry dynamics.

In this new volume it is argued that network effects are much more common than usually assumed, and that they have a profound impact on many aspects of economic systems, especially technological change and economic growth. The analysis and modelling of this interrelationship is the central focus of this book. While there exists a vast body of literature on economic growth, the theories put forward so far have had limited success in explaining observed patterns of economic growth. 'Growth cycles' in particular continue to elude standard economic models, though evolutionary economics has made some progress. Seeking to fill the gap, Torsten Heinrich's innovative approach uses microeconomics to explain heterogeneous sectoral dynamics on the meso level, and then aggregating these to observed macroeconomic growth rates. In this way, it is shown that an evolutionary model of technological change with network effects can explain not only commonly observed asymmetric industry structures, monopolies and oligopolies but also 'growth cycles'. The book includes a comprehensive account of the most influential economic growth theories, a discussion of the research on network effects as well as an introduction to the methodology, the model, and a case study on the recent emergence of information and communication technology. This important new volume will be relevant to all those interested in theoretical economics, growth theory, innovation economics, agent based modelling and industry dynamics. Review: 'Will be read with profit, even by experts in the fields of economics of innovation, economic dynamics (cycles and growth), agent-based modelling, the IT industry, and the micro foundations of macroeconomics. The author's compact simulation models are studded all over with sockets for plugging in one's own lines of research.' - Colin Richardson, Adjunct Professor of Economics, Centre for International Security Studies, University of Sydney