Economic evolution and the science of synergetics

This paper deals with synergetic methods, which have developed as a sub-field of the self-organisation approach in the natural sciences. Such methods have been used successfully to model structural transitions in physio-chemical contexts. The synergetic approach is explained in a non-technical way and the main elements of the synergetic methodology are introduced. The extent to which such methods can be applied in the presence of historical time series data, which are subject to underlying processes of evolutionary economic change, is assessed. Proposals, concerning more appropriate synergetic methods for evolutionary economic application, are considered.The research from which this paper is derived was supported by an Australian Research Council Large Grant. We would like to thank University of Queensland Emergent Complexity and Organisation in Economics (ECO)²] Research Group participants-David Anthony, Bryan Morgan and Pradeep Philip-for their comments and criticisms on an earlier draft of this paper (Foster and Wild 1994). We are also grateful to Ulrich Witt for his detailed comments and Gerard Milburn (UQ Physics) for helping us to understand how synergetics is applied in physics. Three anonymous referees also provided invaluable comments on the journal submission. However, the usualcaveat applies.