Searching for Common Ground: Interactive Agency in Heterodox Economics

The individual, economic agent has antecedents and consequences that shape her perceptions of the world, in other words, form the individual’s mental models. Furthermore, the individual is a totality of mental models, which shape perception and influence the selection of relevant models to apply to data and interpret input. The influence of mental models therefore directly influences the degree of agency the individual is able to exercise. Moreover, whatever assumptions are made regarding the degree of agency an individual possesses informs the theoretical structure from which any approach to economics is built. This paper seeks to examine and compare the role of agency in heterodox economic thought and proposes that the theme of the individual might well serve as a missing link between otherwise disparate groups of thought.