Rational choice theory relies on premises that are correct and complete; but, in general, neither can be assured. Knowledge is an open system of selected relationships and the adequacy of our representations of phenomena is always subject to Knightian uncertainty. The management of industrial...

This paper illustrates the problems and processes of developing economic knowledge by a selective historical treatment of ideas about the firm. Coase thought it necessary to explain firms as organizations, but not as distinctive productive units; neither did he explain why markets exist....

Summary Human knowledge is a human creation: we seek to make sense by creating patterns, which are tested in various ways and with differing degrees and kinds of rigour. For each individual cognition is a scarce resource, but different people can apply it in diverse ways and to diverse subjects:...

This paper reflects on the contributions of Adam Smith and Joseph Schumpeter on our understanding of economic development, routines and cognition. It distinguishes between two conceptions of economic analysis, one Cartesian in nature, the other following an developmental perspective that resists...

Human knowledge is a human creation: we seek to make sense by creating patterns, which are tested in various ways and with differing degrees and kinds of rigour. For each individual cognition is a scarce resource, but different people can apply it in diverse ways and to diverse subjects: each...

The title of this paper may suggest a specific focus on the possibilities and problems of matching closed models and open systems; however, although the relationships between systems and the models that we seek to apply to them are indeed the primary topics, there is no assumption that all...