The Elgar Companion to Neo-Schumpeterian Economics is a cutting-edge collection of specially commissioned contributions highlighting not only the broad scope but also the common ground between all branches of this prolific and fast developing field of economics.

The paper addresses two issues. One concerns the general conditions and procedures involved in the emergence of a tool industry. Tool industries emerge and evolve as a collection of capital goods and tool inventors and manufacturers. One of our goals is to use some of the works on historical...

► Explains the context and the motivations for this Special Issue. ► Provides a summary of each paper of the Special Issue. ► Draws on the papers some guidelines for policy design.