Institutional Economic Approaches to Technology

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2004
Gürkan, Ceyhun
By probing Thorstein B. Veblen̕s (1857-1929) and Joseph A. Schumpeter̕s (1883-1950) views on technology, this thesis aims at displaying an institutional economic approach to technology. Most of the contemporary studies on technological change are under the dominance of neoclassical economics. Because of their inadequacies in revealing the complex structure of technological phenomena due to their adherence to mechanistic and deterministic postulations of orthodox economic theory, an institutional approach to technology has become a must. Therefore, today, the fundamental ideas of Veblen and Schumpeter concerning technology are used heavily to constitute an alternative approach by evolutionary and institutionalist economists in their technical, philosophical, sociological and methodological studies. In this sense, this thesis, based upon a comparative analysis of Veblen and Schumpeter, is engaged with presenting an alternative conceptual framework for science and technology policy studies.

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Citation Formats
C. Gürkan, “Institutional Economic Approaches to Technology,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2004.