ABSTRACT
A complete analysis of the most recent developments in economics in various European countries requires a broad vision, a merging of approaches traditionally isolated in separate special fields, such as the history of economic analysis, the study of the international transfer of knowledge, the sociology of research (professionalization, organization), the examination of the policy-making process, among others. An extensive literature (e.g. Eagly 1968; Albertone and Masoero 1994; Colander and Coats 1989; Hall 1989; Coats 1987, 1994, 1997) has posited the suitability of treating internal and external factors as complementary in the explanation of scientific development. This chapter forms part of this approach.
