IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eecrev/v173y2025ics0014292125000182.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining institutional technology

Author

Listed:
  • Potts, Jason
  • Dopfer, Kurt
  • Tulloh, Bill

Abstract

This paper offers a review and several refinements and extensions of Explaining Technology, by Koppl et al. (2023), which develops a combinatorial theory of the evolution of technology. First, we suggest that the mechanism of tinkering can be formulated in the theory of user innovation. Second, we propose that a useful refinement is to focus on institutional technologies. This offers a better explanation of emergent levels of evolutionary selection, or major transitions, and also adapts their framework to better explain the nature of a digital economy. Third, we propose a more ambitious line of generalisation from explaining technology to explaining knowledge. We suggest this is possible from the rubric of the new ‘physics of information’ in constructor theory, assembly theory and Bayesian mechanics.

Suggested Citation

  • Potts, Jason & Dopfer, Kurt & Tulloh, Bill, 2025. "Explaining institutional technology," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:173:y:2025:i:c:s0014292125000182
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2025.104968
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014292125000182
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2025.104968?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Technology; Economic evolution; Knowledge; Information theory; User innovation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:173:y:2025:i:c:s0014292125000182. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eer .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.