Le tournant cognitif en économie

This article argues for the need to integrate beliefs the individual and collective levels in economic theory, something which is referred to as a "cognitive turning point". In the first section of the article, we show that instrumental rationality does not offer an adequate framework for analysing this sort of cognitive activity. Rather, what is needed is a notion of cognitive rationality which is distinct from instrumental rationality. This necessity appears clearly when we look at rational expectations models. As a rule, these models have multiple equilibria. This implies that the criteria of instrumental rationality is too weak to specify the way people forms their representations of the world. In the second section, we introduce the concept of "social belief". We show that the formation of social beliefs is closely related to the cultural and historic context. We conclude by demonstrating that social beliefs cannot be thought of as the direct result of individual beliefs : there are in part autonomous from individual beliefs. Classification JEL : A1, B5, C7