Routledge Handbook of Macroeconomic Methodology

16 Neoclassical macroeconomics

Bert Tieben

DOI: 10.4324/9781315745992-20

Introduction

Macroeconomics is the branch of economic science which studies the operation of the economy as a whole (Chick 1983; Dow 1996). Neoclassical macroeconomics is generally seen as the school which studies macroeconomics through the lens of individual optimising behaviour. In other words, it applies the tools of microeconomics to the study of the economy as a whole and so aims to provide a proper microfoundation for macroeconomics (Weintraub 1979). The result is a focus on equilibrium outcomes; the situation where supply equals demand on all markets simultaneously or general equilibrium. Consequently, neoclassical macroeconomics is also often associated with ...