An interdisciplinary model for macroeconomics

• Published in: Oxford review of economic policy Vol. 34; no. 1/2; pp. 219 - 251
• Main Authors: Haldane, A. G., Turrell, A. E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: UK Oxford University Press 05-01-2018
• Subjects: macroeconomics; consumption; agent-based model; modelling
• ISSN: 0266-903X; 1460-2121
• DOI: 10.1093/oxrep/grx051

Macroeconomic modelling has been under intense scrutiny since the Great Financial Crisis, when serious shortcomings were exposed in the methodology used to understand the economy as a whole. Criticism has been levelled at the assumptions employed in the dominant models, particularly that economic agents are homogeneous and optimizing and that the economy is equilibrating. This paper seeks to explore an interdisciplinary approach to macroeconomic modelling, with techniques drawn from other (natural and social) sciences. Specifically, it discusses agent-based modelling, which is used across a wide range of disciplines, as an example of such a technique. Agent-based models are complementary to existing approaches and are suited to answering macroeconomic questions where complexity, heterogeneity, networks, and heuristics play an important role.