mikrofounded

Mikrofounded is an adjective used primarily in economics and social sciences to describe theories, models, or arguments that aim to derive macro-level outcomes from micro-level foundations. The term is a variant of microfounded; although microfoundations and microfounded are standard in many contexts, mikrofounded appears occasionally in scholarly and popular writings, often to emphasize the micro-level origin of results.

In practice, a mikrofounded model specifies the individual agents’ preferences, constraints, and decision rules, and derives aggregate behavior from those micro decisions. The approach contrasts with macro-level models that posit relationships at the aggregate level without deriving them from micro behavior. In macroeconomics, dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models are frequently described as mikrofounded because they rest on optimization by households and firms, even as some researchers critique the realism of their assumptions. In other fields, mikrofounded analysis may rely on experiments, surveys, or agent-based components to link individual behavior to collective outcomes.

Critiques of mikrofounded work include the risk that simplifying micro assumptions fail to capture heterogeneity, adaptation, and emergent phenomena. Proponents argue that microfoundations improve explanatory power and policy relevance by making causal mechanisms explicit. See also: microfoundations, macroeconomics, DSGE, agent-based modeling.