ABSTRACT
This chapter makes the case for (re-)introducing memes into economics. While many scholars have (prematurely) rejected the notion of memes, we argue that by taking memes more seriously, economists could establish links between fragmented approaches and overcome an apparent bias towards mostly intentional and “adaptive” processes of innovation and technological and economic change. Moreover, by embracing the meme's eye view one can overcome questionable conceptions of creative genius and rationally optimizing agents, or at least complement them with a more naturalistic and informational perspective. In summary, studying memes means studying interconnected informational structures (often involving instructions) that can be socially transmitted and recombined, thus affording the emergence of innovations.
