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Soziale Evolution und räumliche Wirtschaftsstruktur bei Herbert Spencer, William Hearn und Alfred Marshall

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  • Scheuplein Christoph

    (Berlin)

Abstract

Herbert Spencer, William Hearn and Alfred Marshall on social evolution and spatial patterns of the Economy. In contemporary regional economics and economic geography, Alfred Marshall is appreciated as the first economist who described and theorized economic clusters. However, his work has been one-sidedly reduced to his economic rational explorations of the emergence and success of industrial districts. Delving deeper reveals that Marshall was deeply influenced by evolutionary thinking. For him, districts were an organizational pattern arising out of human evolution. Marshall was also influenced by two other earlier scholars: Spencer and Hearn. The founder of socio-evolutionary theory, Herbert Spencer, had already used the spatial allocation of production activities as a important criteria to characterize societal development. William Hearn had integrated the socio-evolutionary terms of organization into economics in order to describe the macro-economy. Alfred Marshall borrowed their concepts and worked them into the wider framework of social science. Due to this, he gained insights into the contingency and the path dependency of spatial processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Scheuplein Christoph, 2007. "Soziale Evolution und räumliche Wirtschaftsstruktur bei Herbert Spencer, William Hearn und Alfred Marshall," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 51(1), pages 1-13, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:zfwige:v:51:y:2007:i:1:p:1-13:n:1
    DOI: 10.1515/zfw.2007.0001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. J. K. Whitaker, 1975. "The Theory of Foreign Trade and Other Portions of Economic Science Bearing on the Principle of Laissez Faire," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: J. K. Whitaker (ed.), The Early Economic Writings of Alfred Marshall, 1867–1890, chapter 0, pages 1-236, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Peter Groenewegen, 2001. "The Evolutionary Economics of Alfred Marshall: An Overview," Chapters, in: John Laurent & John Nightingale (ed.), Darwinism and Evolutionary Economics, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Marco Bellandi, 2003. "Some Remarks on Marshallian External Economies and Industrial Tendencies," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Richard Arena & Michel Quéré (ed.), The Economics of Alfred Marshall, chapter 13, pages 240-253, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Marco Bellandi & Lisa De Propris, 2012. "Small Firms and Industrial Districts," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 27, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. John Dennis Chasse, 1984. "Marshall, the Human Agent and Economic Growth: Wants and Activities Revisited," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 381-404, Fall.
    6. John Laurent & John Nightingale, 2001. "Darwinism and Evolutionary Economics," Chapters, in: John Laurent & John Nightingale (ed.), Darwinism and Evolutionary Economics, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Geoffrey M. Hodgson (ed.), 1995. "Economics and Biology," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 556.
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