Leonid Arnoldovich Tutov

The article addresses the ecosystems in the socio-economic sphere as network forms of organizing economic activity, operating under conditions of digital technological infrastructure that brings together various economic agents. The aim of the study is the subject identification of ecosystems carried out by highlighting the essential characteristics and theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the subject. Apart from universal methods of cognition, the authors provide a systematic literature review, in particular, the frequency analysis of scientific articles. Such approach allows to identify the three dimensions within which the ecosystems are determined: socio-economic, technological and physico-biological. Ecosystems have a network of multilevel in-built structure characterized by scalability, self-organization, stability and dynamism. The equilibrium of ecosystems is conditional due to the dynamic interaction of economic actors: a combination of competition and cooperation, vertical integration and horizontal network relations, formal and informal contracts. Ecosystem development is determined by the innovation potential: entrepreneurs play an important role, as well as information, data and knowledge used to develop innovations. To study ecosystems, scientific literature applies a general conceptual apparatus of economic science, as well as the conceptual apparatus formed within new institutional economic theory (NIET), evolutionary economics and theory of innovation. NIET can be applied to the study of ecosystems in the field of contract theory, applying the method of discrete structural alternatives. The dichotomous division of ecosystems into economic entities and environments used is a principle that is applied in evolutionary economics. The results of this study can be applied to ecosystem regulation, as well as developing the courses on digital economy.

The main characteristics of methodological individualism as an approach used in economics to the study of social phenomena are revealed and the associated with it way of presenting accumulated knowledge. The authors show how methodological individualism is positioned in economics where Lakatos' research programs compete with each other. The study examines possible limitations in applying methodological individualism to relations between people mediated by language as a means of communication, including in the light of socialization processes, as well as in the light of differences in the research process and the way of presenting its outcomes. The authors show that with the spread of technologies based on artificial intelligence, the question of whether self-learning algorithms successfully passing the Turing test should be considered as a challenge for applying the traditional understanding of methodological individualism in future economic research. Methodological individualism is one of the important issues in the modern methodology of economics, in the light of which the paper discusses various aspects of the relationship between methodological holism and individualism.