ABSTRACT
Although two of the original protagonists of evolutionary thinking in economics — Schumpeter and Hayek — were born in Austria and educated in Vienna, Austrian economics and the evolutionary approach are usually considered to be two distinct and independent developments. This distinc tion has something to it and the present paper will give some hints as to why. However, the two schools also have much in common. It seems worthwhile, therefore, to examine whether matching the two lines of thought could yield a promising research strategy. An exploration of this question is complicated, unfortunately, by the fact that within the Austrian School there is considerable disagreement about various issues (see, e.g., Shand 1981). The same is true with respect to the evolutionary approach which still suffers from a significant lack of coherence (see Witt 1991). Before the possible gains from matching ideas from the two camps can be assessed, a thorough review of similarities and differences between, and shortcomings and strengths of, several positions in both schools seems necessary.
