Evolutionary dynamics and sustainable development : a systems approach

The strategic management of socio-economic systems is becoming increasingly difficult with traditional economic models which are unable to handle environmental and technological factors. In Evolutionary Dynamics and Sustainable Development, Norman Clark, Francisco Perez-Trejo and Peter Allen offer a new approach which emphasizes the evolutionary nature of socio-economic systems. This major book begins with a critical evaluation of conventional economic approaches to development planning and then explores how modern general systems theory can show economic development as a process of structural change. The discussion includes the use of decision tools which can simultaneously handle spatial and temporal evolution. The authors develop a model which they explore through case studies of both Senegal and Crete. The model is combined with risk analysis to show how it can be used in computer-based scenarios, before its properties as an aid to decision making are summarized in the last chapter. Defining development as a process of structural change in economic systems rather than in terms of economic output, this volume will be welcomed for its advocacy of non-linear models as decision tools and for its special reference to issues of economic development and environmental stability in Third World countries