Towards an epigenetic understanding of evolutionary economics and evolutionary economic geography

In this theoretical paper, we focus on one of the recent findings that have been produced in the last decades in biology, namely epigenetics, weighing how it can help evolutionary economics to gain a better description of economic phenomena. The interest of our conceptual contribution lies in understanding how firms and territories adapt to their respective environments in contexts of high velocity. We discuss the Epigenetic Economic Dynamics approach in the light of other methodological frameworks that have emerged in the field of evolutionary economic geography, such as developmental systems theory, evolutionary developmental biology, and the concept of resilience. We aim to introduce this concept in the field of evolutionary economics and evolutionary economic geography, and illustrate how it can also complement existing approaches, concepts and theories being used in such scientific discipline.