Theory to the Rescue of Large-Scale Models: Edmond Malinvaud's View on the Search for Microfoundations

Abstract

AbstractEdmond Malinvaud's case is peculiar in the history of macroeconomics as he committed to two different microfoundational programs, namely, the disequilibrium theory (more properly, the non-Walrasian approach) and the practice of large-scale macroeconomic modeling. Such a twofold commitment was far from anecdotal because Malinvaud regarded these programs as fully compatible. The search for microfoundations he promoted did not aim at reconsidering the autonomy of macroeconomics. It was instead subject to the condition of being connected and oriented toward the needs of large-scale models. The best illustration was Malinvaud's own contributions to the non-Walrasian approach throughout the 1970s and 1980s, by which he intended to rationalize and improve the practice of French large-scale modeling.