Generalized Darwinism and the Synthesis of Evolutionary Economics: Contributions to the advancement of a post-darwinian economics.

• Grant number: 13/12639-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: September 01, 2013
• End date: January 20, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics - Economic Theory
• Principal Investigator: Eleuterio Fernando da Silva Prado
• Grantee: Manuel Ramon Souza Luz
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade (FEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Since the publication in 2002 of "Darwinism in Economics: From Analogy to Ontology", by Geoffrey Hodgson, part of the economic heterodoxy engaged in the debate on the possibility of generalization of Darwinian principles of variation, selection and heredity to the understanding of socioeconomic phenomena. The controversy on Generalized Darwinism extends to the present day and if we turn to the analysis of the themes that emerges from this discussion, we will end up to realize that many economists have a common deficiency, namely, the difficulty in maintaining a clear and strict reference to the foundations of Darwinian thought. If on one hand there is a deficiency, on the other, Generalized Darwinism began to gain strength in the empirical field, especially from recent studies that links the application of Price Equation in economics to the Darwinian proposal. This research project offers a contribution to the debate about Darwinian generalization, proposing a systematic study to clarify the philosophical, methodological and ontological of Darwinian code of science to economics, explaining thus its differences with the model of science that underlies neoclassical economics. In continuity, and keeping reference to this effort of clarification, it is also proposed to evaluate the applicability of Generalized Darwinism taking as reference the recent empirical results from the use of Price Equation in the economic field.