Uncertainty and Technological Change in Medicine

Gelijns, A, J Graff Zivin, and R Nelson, “Uncertainty and Technological Change in Medicine,” Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law 26(2001): 913-924.

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This essay explores the dynamics of technological change in medicine and is divided into three parts. First, we briefly sketch the complex institutional interplay through which medical innovation emerges. Second, we
propose that innovation must be understood as a process of “cultural” learning or evolution. That cultural evolutionary process, in turn, involves the coevolution of technique and knowledge. Third, we discuss several special features of the nature and process of technological change in medicine that set it apart from other sectors of the economy.