Ripensare la funzione di produzione neaoclassica
Cobb-Douglas aggregate production function surely represents the
cornerstone of the neoclassical theory. However, its good fit implies the respect for a
series of unrealistic and increasingly restrictive hypothesis. So, this article attempts
to summarize and to analyze the most important objections to Cobb-Douglas function
raised by heterodox economists.
L’utopia dell’Equilibrio Economico Generale
Nella concezione popolare, ma spesso anche in lavori teorici poco rigorosi,
troviamo una visione mitica del capitalismo, come sistema di garantita efficienza: in
questo mondo ideale ogni individuo massimizza la propria utilita’ soggetto a vincoli di
bilancio, uguagliando i tassi di sostituzione fra vari beni che consuma ai loro prezzi
relativi; ogni impresa massimizza il profitto uguagliando i tassi di sostituzione fra i
vari inputs ai loro prezzi relativi, e il costo marginale del prodotto al suo prezzo.
The crisis of economics and Agent Based Models
Agent based models (ABM) is a methodology that can be applied to any model.
It is valid for the DSGE as well as for “amateurs”: the Walras model is model of agents
arranged on a star network, while the DSGE [e.g. Smets; Wouters, 2003] has identical
agents, or non-interacting heterogeneous ones – that is, without networks. While the
former do not show those aspects of complexity which are related to the real world, the
present work is dedicated to the ones where the HIA generate complexity.
Many results in microeconomics are shaky
MICROECONOMISTS are wrong about specific things, Yoram Bauman, an economist
and comedian, likes to say, whereas macroeconomists are wrong in general.
Macroeconomists have borne the brunt of public criticism over the past decade, a period
marked by financial crisis, soaring unemployment and bitter arguments between the
profession’s brightest stars.Yet the vast majority of practising dismal scientists are
microeconomists, studying the behaviour of people and firms in individual markets. Their
work touches on all aspects of social policy.