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Aggregation problem — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregation_problem
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-11-07T19:11:29.933Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 2a78e1f639270883eb7cf2b4835c55418dcafa8a3070dec3e7f187428d936e63
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_df60ebd5d366

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Aggregation problem — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregation_problem (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_df60ebd5d366 (Metraipolis archive dc_df60ebd5d366, sha256 2a78e1f639270883eb7cf2b4835c55418dcafa8a3070dec3e7f187428d936e63)

BibTeX

@misc{dcdf60ebd5d366,
  title = {Aggregation problem — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregation_problem},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_df60ebd5d366; sha256 2a78e1f639270883eb7cf2b4835c55418dcafa8a3070dec3e7f187428d936e63},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregation_problem. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

In economics, an aggregate is a summary measure. It replaces a vector that is composed of many real numbers by a single real number, or a scalar. Consequently, there occur various problems that are inherent in the formulations that use aggregated variables. The aggregation problem is the problem of finding a valid way to treat an empirical or theoretical aggregate as if it reacted like a less-aggregated measure, say, about behavior of an individual agent as described in general microeconomic theory (see representative agent and heterogeneity in economics). The second meaning of "aggregation problem" is the theoretical difficulty in using and treating laws and theorems that include aggregate variables. A typical example is the aggregate production function. Another famous example is the Sonnenschein-Mantel-Debreu theorem, which casts doubt on the reliability of many macroeconomic theories, methodologies and results. Disaggregation is the decomposition of an aggregate to variables closer to empirical data. Examples of aggregates in micro- and macroeconomics relative to disaggregated counterparts are: Standard theory uses simple assumptions to derive general, and commonly accepted, results such as the law of demand to explain market behavior. An example is the abstraction of a composite good. It considers the price of one good changing proportionately to the composite good, that is, all other goods. If this assumption is violated and the agents are subject to aggregated utility functions, restrictions on the latter are necessary to yield the law of demand. The aggregation problem emphasizes: How broad such restrictions are in microeconomics Use of broad factor inputs ("labor" and "capital"), real "output", and "investment", as if there was only a single such aggregate is without a solid foundation for rigorously deriving analytical results. Franklin Fisher notes that this has not dissuaded macroeconomists from continuing to use such concepts.

Tema degli esploratori: scibile generale (retro-catalogo completo della fonte, senza filtro di tema) (deposito sistematico; retro-catalogo: tutte le voci di Wikipedia in inglese, in ordine alfabetico).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Aggregation problem» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregation_problem
Wikidata Q4692266: «difficulty of treating an empirical or theoretical aggregate as if it reacted like a less-aggregated measure» (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4692266
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregation_problem?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1373820865, consultata il 2026-11-07T19:07:24.267Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: 82c824b5d547bf13b858d1175db65e7df449210ba2e7223ed0a9c94c4370948e