Some reflections on financial instability in macro agent-based models : genealogy and objectives

The paper aims to investigate how the macro agent-based literature, which has developed intensively since 2000, analyzes the issue of financial instability. Within this new paradigm, attention is focused on two research communities engaged in researching this question: the Keynes and Schumpeter (K&S) research program at the Santa Anna School in Pisa and the Computational AdapTive System (CATs) research program being developed at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. The paper examines their common analytical foundations and draws link to anterior research programs such as those instigated by Hyman Minsky, Axel Leijonhufvud, and more recently Joseph Stiglitz. The paper identifies differences in their respective modeling strategies and examines how these elements led to follow somewhat different objectives.