Festschrift für Fritz W. Scharpf - MPIfG

94 I · Reformen und Innovationen
particular colour is drawn. The past directly affects future choices, and there
are potentially infinite increasing returns to scale, in contrast with the assumption
of diminishing returns fundamental to the equilibrium concepts of
neo-classical theory. The contention is plausible in many social situations,
in particular those where social actors face a learning curve and/or more or
less deliberately construct institutions to embody and routinize the choices
and behaviour patterns which they have found in the past to work best. Institutions
convey strong first-mover advantages (Scharpf 1997: ch. 5). This
is where theories of path dependence, therefore of institutional determinism
and the structuring capacity of dominant models, and therefore of capitalist
diversity start.
The problem which occurs when applying this approach to situations
which eventually challenge existing paths is that it is unable to model the
actor who notices that her current practices are no longer effective and is
therefore motivated to search for new possibilities. In that sense, path dependence
is not truly actor-centred. Its agents respond solely to mathematical
stimuli. A properly scientific actor-centred approach must simultaneously
accept the full force of what path dependence theory is telling us
about the sheer difficulty of change in a context of increasing returns, and
posit the potentially creative actor who, within these constraints, nevertheless
finds a way out. Hall and Soskice (2001a: 11–12), explicitly building on
Scharpf, accept the need for theory to allow actors (in their case firms) to
use deliberation and reflection to deal with new or unfamiliar challenges.
But this implies a need for a theory of how such responses to challenges are
made, which requires a theory of how path dependence can be avoided. And
for this, actors must be liberated from theoretical institutions which are
based on strong functionalist assumptions.
References
Albert, Michel, 1991: Capitalisme contre capitalisme. Paris: Seuil.
Aoki, Masahiko/Ronald Dore, 1994, The Japanese Firm: The Sources of Competitive
Strength. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Arthur, W. Brian, 1994: Increasing Returns and Path Dependence in the Economy.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Boyer, Robert, 1997: The Variety and Unequal Performance of Really Existing Markets:
Farewell to Doctor Pangloss? In: Joseph R. Hollingsworth/Robert Boyer,