Carsten Dreher starts with a historical perspective on the development of evolutionary economics by mentioning the difficulties of neoclassical economics to explain economic growth and by referring to the work of Joseph Schumpeter. Then some concepts such as business cycles, path dependencies are shortly explained. Dreher continues by introducing two different approaches in evolutionary economics, a micro centred approach that is associated with Nelson and Winter's work and a macro institutional and historical approach that has been pursued amongst others by Chris Freeman. Lastly the policy implications of treating economies as innovation systems are discussed and a summary of the differences of neoclassical and evolutionary economics is provided.

Since their first emergence in the work of Paul David thirty years ago, the dual issues of Path Dependence and Lock-In have become critically important subjects in the fields of economics, sociology, and business strategy.