The greening of technological progress: an evolutionary perspective

Abstract This article provides insight into technology-economy-ecology linkages which may help to define and accomplish environmentally sustainable development. An evolutionary perspective is adopted in which economic growth and technological change are viewed as a complex, non-linear, path-dependent process, driven by short-term benefits instead of longer- term optimality. The article discusses the externality issues of technological change and the need for institutional adaptation, and talks about the relationship between economic growth and particular trajectories of technological change. It is stated that some of the present technological trajectories have reached their environmental limits and need to be replaced by environment-friendlier trajectories. However, such transitions are hindered by technical, economic and institutional barriers since the new trajectories have not yet benefited from ‘dynamic scale and learning effects’ and because the ‘selection environment’ is adapted to the old regime. The determinants of the decision processes to generate and adopt cleaner technologies are identified and analysed, and some policy issues of stimulating environment-friendlier technologies are discussed.

[1]  P. David,et al.  The Isdn Bandwagon Is Coming, But Who Will Be There To Climb Aboard?: Quandaries In The Economics Of Data Communication Networks , 1990 .

[2]  Nathan Rosenberg,et al.  Perspectives on Technology. , 1978 .

[3]  Luke Georghiou,et al.  Post-innovation performance : technological development and competition , 1988 .

[4]  Nathan Rosenberg,et al.  On Technological Expectations , 1976 .

[5]  Nathan Rosenberg,et al.  Inside the black box , 1983 .

[6]  K. Arrow.  The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing , 1962 .

[7]  Luc Soete,et al.  Unemployment and Technical Innovation: A Study of Long Waves and Economic Development , 1982 .

[8]  Frank Hahn,et al.  Information, Dynamics and Equilibrium , 1987 .

[9]  Arnulf Grubler,et al.  The Rise and Fall of Infrastructures: Dynamics of Evolution and Technological Change in Transport , 1990 .

[10]  S. Winter,et al.  An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change.by Richard R. Nelson; Sidney G. Winter , 1987 .

[11]  Richard R. Nelson,et al.  Understanding Technical Change As an Evolutionary Process , 1987 .

[12]  G. Dosi.  Sources, Procedures, and Microeconomic Effects of Innovation , 1988 .

[13]  Elliott W. Montroll,et al.  Introduction to Quantitative Aspects of Social Phenomena , 1975 .

[14]  James M. Utterback,et al.  A dynamic model of process and product innovation , 1975 .

[15]  D. Huisingh,et al.  Proven Profits from Pollution Prevention: Case Studies in Resource Conservation and Waste Reduction , 1986 .

[16]  Richard C. Levin,et al.  A New Look at the Patent System , 1986 .

[17]  G. Dosi.  Technological Paradigms and Technological Trajectories: A Suggested Interpretation of the Determinants and Directions of Technical Change , 1982 .

[18]  S. Winter,et al.  In search of useful theory of innovation , 1993 .

[19]  M. Lieberman.  The Learning Curve and Pricing in the Chemical Processing Industries , 1984 .