Meta-paradigm change and the theory of the firm

Many seemingly unrelated debates on the theory of the firm are in fact part of a single, deeper transformation of the social sciences. As the foundational assumptions of 20th century social science have slowly been shown by science to be false, new sub-paradigms have emerged, which cumulatively drop (i) theoretical assumptions about markets to explain firms; (ii) epistemological assumptions about knowledge to explain diversity; and (iii) metaphysical assumptions about causality to explain technical change. Debates occur across each of these levels.