The Micro, Meso, and Macro Relationships in Economic Thought and “Turning Points”

In this chapter we try to identify the various “theoretical perspectives” to which the analysis of the micro, meso, and macro relationships in economic theory may be attributed. The term “theoretical perspective” in this context refers not to a single theory but to a vision underlying several theories sharing the same mode of the general interpretation of phenomena. In this sense, it is more general than a theory or a model; it is a structure of thought and a generator of theories or models. We propose to summarize the different theoretical perspectives of the micro, meso, and macro relationships in four basic conceptualizations: The mechanical–aggregative theoretical perspective The causal–structuralist theoretical perspective The strategic–competitive theoretical perspective The complex systems’ theoretical perspective. In addition to identifying each approach, this reconstruction includes an additional hypothesis: it is held that the first three schemes for explaining the micro, meso, and macro relationships, consolidated in different ways in the tradition of economic thought, experienced “turning points” that forced the initial paradigm to take on board some elements of complexity emerging in the real world. The shifts in the paradigm share the cultural orientation of the original structure and revisit some elements but still without aiming to overturn the starting framework. Often, however, without necessarily seeking to do so, such turning points demolished a significant part of the original assumptions.