%A R.R. Nelson %J Journal of Economic Literature %T Recent evolutionary theorizing about economic change %X Economists long have employed evolutionary language and metaphors to characterize economic change, but until recently have largely eschewed the expression of explicit evolutionary theories. Over the last decade, however, a number of explicit evolutionary theories have been developed by economists, and other social scientists. This essay discusses the general analytic art form, and summarizes and discusses a number of the particular models. In the light of those examples, it evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of explicit evolutionary theorizing as an approach to understanding economic change. %N 1 %P 48-90 %V 33 %D 1995 %I American Economic Association %L iiasa4224