ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to assess the feasibility of linking the “evolutionary paradigm” to the description of an economic agent as assumed by neoclassical economics. The limits of economics are evaluated by comparing a highly simplified illustration of consumer economics with the manifest features of evolutionary phenomena. The chapter describes one potential starting point—the evolutionary paradigm—which could provide a fruitful basis for further analytical discussion in economics. It explores the application of economic contraction, to develop fruitful hypotheses which might later be evaluated empirically. Mechanistic models in economics refer to the representation of the dynamics of physical systems. The explanation of consumption patterns when a complex intercon-nectedness of macro- and microlevels prevails often leads to counterintuitive results—anomalies from the viewpoint of standard economics. General equilibrium analysis, a fundamental part of modern economics, studies mainly relationships between micro- and macro-functions. The only institutions that exist in the economy are markets of the competitive type.
