Macroeconomic Policy in DSGE and Agent-Based Models Redux: New Developments and Challenges Ahead

Giorgio Fagiolo () and Andrea Roventini

LEM Papers Series from Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy

Abstract: The Great Recession seems to be a natural experiment for economic analysis, in that it has shown the inadequacy of the predominant theoretical framework - the New Neoclassical Synthesis (NNS) - grounded on the DSGE model. In this paper, we present a critical discussion of the theoretical, empirical and political-economy pitfalls of the DSGE-based approach to policy analysis. We suggest that a more fruitful research avenue should escape the strong theoretical requirements of NNS models (e.g., equilibrium, rationality, representative agent, etc.) and consider the economy as a complex evolving system, i.e. as an ecology populated by heterogenous agents, whose far-from-equilibrium interactions continuously change the structure of the system. This is indeed the methodological core of agent-based computational economics (ACE), which is presented in this paper. We also discuss how ACE has been applied to policy analysis issues, and we provide a survey of macroeconomic policy applications (scal and monetary policy, bank regulation, labor market structural reforms and climate change interventions). Finally, we conclude by discussing the methodological status of ACE, as well as the problems it raises.

Keywords: Economic Policy; New Neoclassical Synthesis; New Keynesian Models; DSGE Models; Agent-Based Computational Economics; Agent-Based Models; Complexity Theory; Great Recession; Crisis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp, nep-dge and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (42)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.lem.sssup.it/WPLem/files/2016-17.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Macroeconomic Policy in DSGE and Agent-Based Models Redux: New Developments and Challenges Ahead (2017)
Working Paper: Macroeconomic policy in DGSE and agent based models redux: new developments and challenges ahead (2016)
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:ssa:lemwps:2016/17

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LEM Papers Series from Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).