The Multiple Linkages between Technological Change, Growth and the Economy. A Review of a Research Programme

This paper discusses the main approaches followed by a European Union-sponsored research programme on endogenous growth, technological change and interdependence, that has addressed many issues concerning the multiple linkages between technology and the economy, and reviews some of the results. Whilst repeatedly emphasising a perspective that takes into account the enterprise-level to observe any determinant as well as result of technological changes, this paper introduces an alternative microeconomic approach to technology and technological change, based on the concept of Technological Capabilities. Thus, inter-firm differences are explicitly considered to understand technological change within an integrated evolutionary framework, encompassing micro- and macroeconomic dimensions. Copyright Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998.