Toward a non walrasian macroeconomics

Jean-Luc Gaffard (1)

1 OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po)

This article aims to contrast modern macroeconomic analysis with a non-Walrasian or evolutionary macroeconomics. This debate, which returns to the forefront with each major economic crisis, concerns the nature of coordination problems and the means of resolving them. While modern macroeconomic models describe the inter-temporal optimization behaviour of consumers who are perfectly adapted to their environment and cleared markets, evolutionary macroeconomics focuses on market imbalances that require adaptive behaviours. This contrast affects monetary and fiscal policy as well as the nature of any structural reforms to be carried out. It also affects the type of modelling to be developed.

Keywords: Imperfect knowledge; Short term; Equilibrium; Flexibility; Long term; Structural reforms; Rigidity

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Economics and Finance

Jean-Luc Gaffard. Toward a non walrasian macroeconomics. Revue de l'OFCE, 2018, Whither the Economy?, 3 (157), pp.235-256. ⟨10.3917/reof.157.0235⟩. ⟨hal-03443437⟩