[PEN-L:8803] Re: punctuated equilibrium

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim Devine wrote:

>
> Please correct me if I'm wrong: Gould's (and Eldredge's) conception is that
> the process of evolution tends to slow down and even stop, so that the
> process can only continue if there's some catastrophic shock to the system,
> like a massive comet hitting the earth or something else that causes a mass
> dying.
>

yes.

>
> This concept seems a needed addition to biology, getting us away from the
> assumption that evolution is always and everywhere a gradual process. But
> it seems a lot like the neoclassical concept of comparative statics, where
> the economy is seen as changing only due to exogenous shocks.

I use a different interpretation.  I see collapse as an endogenous process
rather than an exogenous shock.  The long periods between the collapses allow
corporations to become sloppy and to neglect innovation.  Following one of
these collapses, innovation accelerates.

>

>
> It seems to me that what economics needs is more a matter of
> self-punctuating equilibrium, as when capitalist accumulation undermines
> its own status quo, unleashing forces of rebellion and reaction.
>

Yup!
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx