“Some Reflections on Financial Instability in Macro Agents-Based Models. Genealogy and objectives”
Résumé
The paper aims to investigate how the macro agent-based literature, which has
developed intensively since 2000, analyzes the issue of financial instability. Within this new
paradigm, attention is focused on two research communities engaged in researching this
question: the Keynes and Schumpeter (K&S) research program at the Santa Anna School in
Pisa; and the Computational AdapTive System (CATs) research program being developed at
the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. The paper examines their common analytical
foundations and draws link to anterior research programs such as those instigated by Hyman
Minsky, Axel Leijonhufvud, and more recently Joseph Stiglitz. The paper identifies differences
in their respective modeling strategies and examines how these elements led to follow
somewhat different objectives.