Evolution of heterodox mesoeconomics

Abstract

The established «micro-macro» dichotomy in economics can be considered as a methodological trap today. The established «micro-macro» dichotomy in economics can be considered as such a trap today. It does not allow for exploring increasingly complex relationships in the modern economy and new emerging structures. Therefore a new theoretical space – «meso» – was required. This paper shows how, outside the orthodox mainstream, a new area of economic theory – heterodox mesoeconomics – has shaped. Based on more realistic methodological prerequisites, compared with those accepted in mainstream micro- and macroeconomics, it offers new research programmes and explanatory schemes of what is happening in economic life. The unifying principles of heterodox mesoeconomics include several methodological postulates. First, this is a departure from microeconomic foundations and principles of additive aggregation. Mesoeconomics considers the economy as a complex multi-level system in which mesostructures arise as a result of coevolution processes. Second, mesoeconomics focuses not only (and not primarily) on the price coordination mechanism with a predominance of negative feedback, but rather on the effects of positive feedbacks. Therefore, heterodox mesoeconomists investigate more complex spontaneously emerging coordination mechanisms, as well as spatial, functional and temporal mesoeconomic structures. Third, heterodox mesoeconomists focus not only on competition as the basis of economic interactions but also on cooperation, redistribution, joint activities, etc. The paper summarizes experience from the heterodox mesoeconomic research since the 1970s to the present.