Institutional variety and the future of economics

Economics depends heavily on assumptions made about the phenomenon of institutional variety and its implications for technological capabilities in economic development. This article contributes to new ways of thinking of institutional variety in order to advance scientific argument within the broad tradition of evolutionary political economy (EPE). First, it draws on the Nyāya (Hindu) systems of logic and reasoning about inference and judgement which can potentially reveal inter-and intra-paradigmatic differences for EPE and economics. Second, it uses four brief illustrative cases from the author’s development research on technological learning and innovation to argue for more explicit and systematic treatment of inference and judgement about institutional variety. Implications for the future of economics are briefly discussed