The Entrepreneur in the History of Political Economy: The Hunting for Heffalumps in the Early Economic Analysis by José M. Menudo

Abstract

Chapter 12 by Javier Arribas Cmara addresses how dig i ta li za tion and tech nol ogy devel op ment can impact sus tain abil ity, both pos i tively and neg a tively, by ini tially car ry ing out a bib lio graph i cal review of research on sus tain abil ity and tech nol ogy, which starts in 1972.The chap ter sug gests that with increas ing demand for energy and resources, we should con sider how tech nol ogy can be a part of the solu tion while miti gat ing its intrin sic risks to the envi ron ment and social jus tice.Through the dis cus sion of Span ish and Ital ian inven tions of the sec ond half of the nineteenth cen tury that did not become inno va tions, in chap ter 13 Juan Francisco Galn reviews fac tors that hin dered inno va tion with the aim of discussing pol i cies that could pro mote inno va tion and increase pro duc tiv ity.He argues that a cru cial dif fi culty is that eco nomic agents do not under stand the con cept of inno va tion, a mis un der stand ing not con sid ered among the fac tors that drive or hin der inno va tion.After the detailed exam i na tion of Isaac Peral's sub ma rine, a great inven tion that nei ther became an inno va tion nor con trib uted to eco nomic devel op ment, Galn depicts the case of a con cep tual fail ure due to the con fu sion between dis cov er ies, inven tions, and inno va tions and the igno rance of the true mean ing of inno va tion.Unlike other years, the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics was not equally divided among the three win ners.One half was awarded to Mokyr, because he "iden ti fied the pre req ui sites for sustained growth through tech no log i cal prog ress."Mokyr is an eco nomic his to rian.The edited vol ume delves very lit tle into eco nomic his tory.In light of Mokyr's Nobel Prize, how can we inte grate eco nomic his tory and the his tory of eco nomic thought more fruit fully?The great major ity of the think ers and ideas discussed in the vol ume belong to the Global North.A vol ume of this scope should con sider incor po rat ing think ers and ideas from other parts of the world as well as, for exam ple, the influ ence of Global North think ers and ideas on the Global South.There are under stand able over laps in some instances between chap ters, as the cen tral ity of cer tain indi vid u als is unques tion able.That said, each of the chap ters suc cess fully brings new ideas to the dis cus sion that are valu able to any one who aims to under stand how the notions of sci ence, tech nol ogy, and inno va tion have devel oped in the his tory of eco nomic thought.