Freeman's broadening contribution revisited: reasoned-history and systemic STI policies from South America to the Global South

摘要

The aim of this short essay is to revisit and reposition Freeman's broadening research and methodological contribution. In the first section, I point out that: (a) in conceptual terms, Freeman has worked in order to move away from the narrow R&D focus of the endogenous growth theory to develop the systemic understanding of the social process of evolution, particularly focusing on STI policies and (b) in methodological terms, Freeman has moved away from mere econometric and cliometrics approaches to reasoned-history, looking to reconciler the separation between history and economic theory under a heterodox framework. In the second section, I briefly contextualize Freeman's interaction with the South American scholars on science, technology and society in order to frame how Freeman's conceptual and methodological approaches helped me during my PhD Thesis research process. The essay concludes with some potential Global South dialogue on innovation, development and growth.