Why is evolutionary economics not an empirical science?

Modern evolutionary economics, at its best in simulation or theoretical modelling, or in devising broad theoretical schemes, remains empirically weak because its basic elements are not readily quantifiable. The development of evolutionary economics as a science requires the translation of theoretical constructs into empirical measures. Given its concern with qualitative phenomena, most notably the ideas, knowledge and generic rules that an economic order is made of, the methodological challenge is how to operationalize a theory of qualitative change into measures of qualitative phenomena. The chapter argues that this endeavour can be organized around the micro-meso-macro analytical framework in which the basic empirical measures are the various dimensions of a meso unit (heterogeneity, variety, frequency). The generic taxonomy of orders, classes and phases of a rule provides the architecture for developing a comprehensive map of the measure space of an evolving economy.