A macro economy as an ecology of plans

Richard Wagner ()

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2012, vol. 82, issue 2, 433-444

Abstract: Standard macro theories reflect a choice-theoretic orientation wherein aggregate variables are treated as acting directly on one another. Macro phenomena are thus reduced to the same order of simplicity as micro phenomena; macro variables differ from micro variables only by their larger size. In contrast, this paper treats the relationship between micro and macro as non-scalable. Macro phenomena emerge through micro interaction and are of a higher order of complexity than micro phenomena. Rather than reducing macro to micro through scalar multiplication, macro phenomena supervene on micro interaction and are not themselves objects of direct action. A macro economy is treated as a complex ecology of plans that constitute a non-equilibrium process of spontaneous ordering.

Keywords: Micro foundations; Complexity; Emergence; Supervention; Ecology of plans; Turbulence; Spontaneous ordering; Scale-free modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B4 D2 D8 E1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (39)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:82:y:2012:i:2:p:433-444

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.07.019

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