The general equilibrium theory as economic metatheory

Classical thermodynamics and economic general equilibrium theory

A long history of analogy making between neoclassical economics and physical thermodynamics has unfortunately served to obscure two important relations between the two fields: their definitions of equilibria stem from essentially the same three axioms for the mathematical representations of systems, while the classes of transformation each has chosen to emphasize, and their responses to the pro...

The Equilibrium Manifold: Postmodern Developments in the Theory of General Economic Equilibrium

2 General Equilibrium Theory

Here we briefly review the general equilibrium theory, which is pretty traditional: preference and the concept of ordinal utility, demand and comparative statics, the definition of Arrow–Debreu equilibrium, Pareto efficiency and welfare theorems, welfare comparison and compensation principle, and incomplete asset markets. As they are standard, they are presented without proofs. For a comprehens...

Index Numbers and the General Economic Equilibrium*

What may be called the problem of imputation, which is a central problem of economics, is that of determining how the end product of the industrial process, called consumption goods, comes to be distributed among the individuals or classes of individuals which make up the economic system. Corresponding to the classes of individuals are classes of goods, which may in particular be arranged as fo...

General equilibrium theory Lecture notes