Sidney Winter papers, 1964-2017
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Summary
- Creator:
- Winter, Sidney G., Nelson, Richard R., and Economists' Papers Archive
- Abstract:
- Sidney Winter is a white American economist known for his application of evolutionary theory to economics and contributions to the field of evolutionary economics. His scholarship has influenced a range of fields, especially the study of the evolution of firms. Richard Nelson (1930-2025) was an American economist and frequent collaborator of Winter's who emphasized the role of institutions, learning, and routines in shaping economic dynamics. This collection contains drafts, notes, correspondence, and experiments from Winter and Nelson's works on evolutionary economics in the 1970s. It also contains published materials from the 1980s-2010s, including Winter and Nelson's An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Acquired as part of the Economists' Papers Archive.
- Extent:
- 3 Linear Feet (1 Paige box, 2 Hollinger boxes, and 1 oversize folder.)
- Language:
- Most materials in English. A small amount of material is in Russian, Japanese, Korean, or Portuguese.
- Collection ID:
- RL.13163
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection documents Sidney G. Winter's collaborative and independent work on evolutionary economics, spanning 1964 to 2017, with a focus on Winter and Nelson's collaborative research. Early materials from 1968-1970 consist of drafts, experiment data, and correspondence for "Forces Generating and Limiting Concentration under Schumpeterian Competition" and "The Schumpeterian Trade-Off Revisited," including detailed revision letters from Paul Joskow and Alvin K. Kelvorick, draft fragments, footnotes, inserts, and simulation runs with graphs, tables, and memos. Complementary files from 1976-1979 center on firm-size distribution experiments, conference materials, essay comments, and press clippings. Other materials from the 1980s contain Winter's "An Essay on the Theory of Production," outlines, calculations, and annotated excerpts from Schumpeter and Walras, alongside joint drafts with Nelson such as "Organizational Capabilities in a Dynamic World." Additional materials from 1976-1982 trace the evolution of Winter and Nelson's An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change through chapter drafts, related correspondence, and later topical threads on patents, appropriability, and the Yale Research and Development survey by Winter, Nelson, and others. Winter's professional service appears in International Schumpeter Society newsletters and committee correspondence. Also included are photographs of Winter teaching and multiple international editions of An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Overall, the collection documents Winter's theorizing, model building, data work, and collaborative process that influenced the field of evolutionary economics.
- Biographical / historical:
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Sidney G. Winter (b. 1935) is a white American economist known for his contributions to evolutionary economics and the theory of the firm. Winter sought to move beyond the abstract assumptions of neoclassical economics by developing models that reflect the real behavior of organizations. In his 1982 book with Richard Nelson, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Winter and Nelson introduced the concept of organizational "routines" as the economic equivalent of genes. They understood them as stable patterns of behavior that shape how firms learn, adapt, and compete. Winter's scholarship has influenced fields from management studies to innovation policy, and his work remains influential to understanding how firms evolve in uncertain environments.
Richard R. Nelson (1930-2025) was Sidney Winter's longtime collaborator and a white American economist best known for his work on innovation, technological change, and economic growth. Nelson's work emphasized the role of institutions, learning, and routines in shaping economic dynamics. Nelson argued that economic growth is driven not just by capital accumulation but by complex processes of innovation, imitation, and organizational capability. His research placed technological change at the center of economic history and policy. By merging economic theory and evolutionary biology, Nelson helped establish evolutionary economics as a field of study.
Sources: Wikipedia and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (accessed 2025 September 15).
- Acquisition information:
- The Sidney Winter papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift from Sidney Winter in 2024.
- Processing information:
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Processed by Reina Henderson, September 2025
Accessions described in this collection guide: 2025-0085.
- Arrangement:
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Arranged chronologically.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Subjects
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Contents
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- Restrictions:
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Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
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- Preferred citation:
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[Identification of Item], Sidney Winter papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
- Permalink:
- https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1ht87