Sustainable development: An evolutionary economic approach

In this paper, it is argued that the view of the economic sphere as a closed system can-not appropriately deal with the issue of sustainable development. Evolutionary economics is then presented as a fruitful alternative to apprehend the interactions between the economic, the human and the natural spheres. This emerging field offers both a firm theoretical basis (based upon recent developments in physics, biology, dynamic systems theory and the sciences of complexity) and practical, pragmatic answers to the implementation of a sustainable path of development. This is further illustrated with the presentation of the evolutionary logic of a multi-level common regime. Such a regime could be an institutional counterpart of social and environmental dynamics. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.