Economics and Transitions: Lessons from Economic Sub-disciplines
Jeroen van den Bergh & René Kemp
#2006-038
Currently, there is much interest in stimulating or 'speeding up'
socio-technical transitions to sustainable systems, most notably in the
sectors of energy, transport and agriculture. This essay attempts to
assess whether and how 'transition' type problems and issues are being
addressed in the various sub-disciplines and methodological approaches
of economics. This allows us to identify concepts, ideas, theories and
empirical methods in economics that are suitable for inclusion and
elaboration in 'transition research'. Surprisingly, we find that many
sub-disciplines of economics have in one way or another addressed
problems similar to transitions. Our main conclusion therefore is that
economics offers a rich palette of ideas that may be useful for
transition research. Studies on development stages, long waves,
technological path-dependency, conflict resolution, public investments,
emergence of institutions and, transitions from communist to
market-democracy systems seem especially relevant to the study of
transition. Although mainstream economics conflicts in certain ways with
the approach called for by many involved in transition research, we show
that economics certainly has something to offer to the study of
transitions.
UNU-MERIT Working Papers
ISSN 1871-9872