Abstract This paper proposes a multiactivity generalisation of the Nelson–Winter model, or the NW model, in order to turn the attention of evolutionary minded economists toward specialisation and exchange, the emergence of markets for intermediate goods, the specialisation of R&D, and other issues of multisectoral growth and development. The argument and the solution is presented in four steps. First, there is a discussion of some practical difficulties and core theoretical problems in relation to the standard NW model of Schumpeterian competition. The conclusion is that this model gives an ad hoc solution to the tendency of evolutionary models to produce monopoly and that is has not really confronted the ‘knife-edge ’ problems of the underlying Leontief technology. Thus there is still a need to confront what may be called the diversity paradox and the Leontief technology paradox of evolutionary modelling. Second, the paper develops a condensed version of the NW model that serves to highlight the theoretical problems and as a platform for the proposed generalisation. This version of the NW model, the LNW model, includes only labour and knowledge. With given technologies the LNW model shows standard replicator dynamics while it can also be used as a testbed for exploring different R&D regimes. Third, the bare bones of the multiactivity generalisation of the NW model, the MNW model, is presented. This presentation starts from firms

of excellence of social scientists in Europe, working on the economic and social consequences of increasing globalization and the rise of the knowledge economy.

In studying individual consumption behavior, an important issue is the analysis of the relation between commodity expenditure and income (or total expenditure). In this paper we firstly review the more recent theoretical and empirical literature attempting to: (i) derive theory-consistent demand systems models which are able to account for empirically observed non-linearities in total expenditure; (ii) find out whether there exist necessary and sufficient conditions on the across-households distributions such that empirically obtained demand functions still preserve a strong consistency between micro and macro parameters (e.g. consumption-income elasticities). We then apply the techniques discussed in the first part of the paper to the data generated by a computer-simulated model of consumption dynamics presented in Aversi et al. (1999). We find that the model, under a large range of parametrizations, is pretty well equipped to replicate most of the stylized facts displayed by empirically observed consumption patterns, both cross-section and across time.

Analysis of the coevolution of suppliers and users through an evolutionary modelling- The case of environmental innovations.

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