Comment: Marrying Functional Differentiation and Institutional Economics: Reflections on Steffen Roth's Article. Issue 4 (2nd October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Valentinov, Vladislav
• Is Part Of: Journal of economic issues. Volume 51:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 1047
• Page End: 1053
• Publication Date: 2017-10-02
• Subjects: economic system -- Niklas Luhmann -- societal environment -- systems theory; A12 -- B52 -- P10 -- Z13; Economics -- Periodicals; Economics; Économie politique -- Périodiques; Economie; ECONOMICS; ECONOMIC POLICY; Periodicals; 330.05
• DOI: 10.1080/00213624.2017.1391589
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-3624

Abstract

Abstract: The Luhmannian idea of functional differentiation offers a novel and radical systems-theoretic framework reinforcing the institutionalist vision of the embeddedness of the economic system in the societal and natural environment. Reflecting on Steffen Roth's article, I formulate two complementary arguments. The first is that any self-organized complexity can be supported by the installation of a systemic boundary protecting it from the outer environment. The second is that this boundary prevents the complexity of the outer environment from being fully translatable into the intra-systemic complexity. Both arguments potentially inform the institutionalist analysis of the operational and moral problems of the economic function system.