Où il est question d'Italo Calvino, de tulipes, de mariages et de quelques autres

The author shows that it was neither Maurice Allais [1947] nor Paul Samuelson [1958] who ?invented? the overlapping generations model, but the Italian writer Italo Calvino. In a short story written in 1944, all the basic elements where in place, and Calvino proves that not only, there exists an equilibrium, but also that this equilibrium is unstable to small exogenous shocks, such as an imported generation that is more honest than the existing ones. The model is extended to other situations such as the celebrated Dutch tulipmania and the Madoffmania, as well as to the stability, or rather, the instability of marriage. Classification JEL : B20, B22, B50, E13, Z11<np pagenum="766"/>