Economy of the germ: capital, accumulation and vibration

• Published in: Economy and society 2007-11, Vol.36 (4), p.526-548
• Main Author: Lepinay, Vincent-Antonin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Capital; Economic Change; Innovations; Inventions; Labor; Labour; Networks; Sociologists; Tarde, Gabriel
• ISSN: 0308-5147
• DOI: 10.1080/03085140701589463

This paper draws attention to the challenge that Tarde raises for economics: he sheds light on a moment of innovation, literally a moment of vibration, and the root of innovative processes, but which can only be retained under a form that is deprived of its vibration. This germinal life of economies is the source of all changes, but when it is accumulated it loses its vibration and becomes dead capital. Labour and capital are revisited along the way and Tarde points to the lack of continuity between repetitive labour and economic change. One is always the same, the other is always different. Labour alone cannot account for what is observed as a continuously morphing series of activities, involving people, technologies and nature. The germ, as an analytical resource, is trapped between pure repetition, endurance and continuity on the one hand, and on the other, pure vibration, pure potential. The challenge for economists stands precisely at this crossroad. The continuity and repetition of the cotyledon is measurable, but it is not a good candidate to account for economies' relentless changes. Vibrations are the origin of the economy, but they escape any measure when they are observed in their purest form of a potential. Reprinted by permission of Routledge, Taylor and Francis Ltd.