An attempt to categorize the economic behaviours: the case of the Austrian theoretical tradition.

The purpose of the article is to analyse the way in which the Austrian theoretical tradition in economic thought deals with the heterogeneity of the agents. This heterogeneity is presented in the form of a categorization of actors faced with change, that allows to define three individual types of behaviour and rationality: innovation, imitation and adaptation. By putting the emphasis on the social interaction and learning processes, this categorization proves to be analytically meaningful in relation to contemporary theoretical debates.