Emergence is a generic property that makes economies become complex.
The simultaneous carrying out of agents’ intentional action plans within an economic
system generates processes that are at the base of structural change and the emergence
of adaptive complex systems. This paper argues that goals and intentionality
are key elements of the structure of rational human action and are the origin of emergent
properties such as innovation within economic complex systems. To deal with
the locus and role of goals and intentionality in relation to the emergence of complexity
we propose an analytical approach based on agents’ action plans. Action plans are
open representations of the action projected by agents (as individuals or organizations),
where the means (actions) and objectives (or goals) are not necessarily given,
but produced by agents themselves.