A History of Macroeconomics

Francesco Sergi (), Beatrice Cherrier (), Aurélien Saïdi (), Pedro Garcia Duarte, Aurélien Goutsmedt (), Matthieu Renault () and Juan Acosta
Additional contact information
Francesco Sergi: LIPHA - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire d'étude du Politique Hannah Arendt Paris-Est - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - Université Gustave Eiffel
Beatrice Cherrier: CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - Groupe ENSAE-ENSAI - Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et Statistique - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - Groupe ENSAE-ENSAI - Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et Statistique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Aurélien Saïdi: IDHES - Institutions et Dynamiques Historiques de l'Économie et de la Société - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - UP8 - Université Paris 8 - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ENS Paris Saclay - Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay
Pedro Garcia Duarte: Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa (Brazil) - Insper Institute of Education and Research
Aurélien Goutsmedt: UCLouvain - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain, ICHEC - Brussels Management School [Bruxelles]
Matthieu Renault: PHARE - Philosophie, Histoire et Analyse des Représentations Économiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Juan Acosta: Univalle - Universidad del Valle [Cali]

Working Papers from HAL

Abstract: This book offers a history of macroeconomics (the study of "the economy" as a whole) from its inception in the interwar period to today. Its novelty is twofold: it goes beyond a history of theories to cover a wider range of macroeconomists' practices; it relies on a growing body of historical research, challenging misconceptions commonly disseminated in macroeconomics textbooks. This is not "yet another history of macroeconomics". It is one that should strike scholars and students in macroeconomics as novel. Such a history is needed because macroeconomics textbooks project a particular "identity" of the field, derived from a specific historical narrative, in which the field evolved through theoretical "revolutions" and "battles" between "schools of thought" initiated by "great men". We argue that this misrepresents the actual dynamics of macroeconomics. Our history conveys a different perspective, highlighting a more diverse set of characteristics (what macroeconomics is about) and practices (what macroeconomists do). We emphasise how macroeconomics has always relied on the combination of research agendas (theoretical, mathematical, empirical, and computational); how the interaction with other fields (notably microeconomics and econometrics) has been constant; and how the field has been shaped by a cast of researchers with diverse geographical and institutional origins (some working within academia, others in policymaking institutions and private organisations). We bring these many dimensions together through a simple chronology outlining four periods: birth (1920s-1940s), bridges (1950s-1960s), frictions (1970s-1980s), and constellations (1990s-2000s).

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Economics history; Macroeconomics history; History of economic thought (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-01
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05720158v1
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-05720158v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-05720158

DOI: 10.31235/osf.io/2suyd_v1

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().