Comparison And Complementation Of The Paradigm Of Evolutionary Economics And Neoclassical Economics

Neoclassical economics gradually formed in the1870s. It had rigorous forms and specific norms and became the mainstream economics from then. However, as the economic system became more and more complicated, the defects of the neoclassical economics continued to appear and the suspicion of the theory emerged. The crisis of the neoclassical economics rooted in its paradigm. Repairs under the framework of the existing paradigm cannot solve the problems. Although the evolutionary economics hasn’t formed into a systematic theory in a long time, the evolution thoughts germinated in the early period of classical economics. In the late20th century, the evolutionary economists Nelson and Winter built the systematic theory of evolutionary economics. Since the birth date of the evolutionary economics, it is built on the drawbacks of the neo-classical paradigms. There are significant differences between the two paradigms. This paper compared the two different paradigms on the micro-, meso-and macro-level and the interaction between those different levels, analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of both the basic functions about explanation and prediction of the two theories.Though the two paradigms seem contraries, there is still the possibility of complementary over evolutionary economics and neoclassical economics paradigms. Just like the relation of Chinese medicine and Western medicine, the two paradigms can be improved by mutual emulation. The economics theory would also be improved during this process. This paper demonstrates that evolutionary economics and mainstream economics research paradigm can be combined with each other to overcome the economic crisis. It is conducive to deepening understanding of the real economic phenomenon and favorable to innovation and development of modern economic theory. Specifically, the economic policy under two paradigms can become complementary more easily than the integration of the two theories. Better policy effect would be achieved ultimately. The complementarity of the two theories has great significance for the development of the Chinese economy and economic theory.