General Equilibrium Theory of Value

✍ Scribed by Yves Balasko

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 187
• Edition: Course Book
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The concept of general equilibrium, one of the central components of economic theory, explains the behavior of supply, demand, and prices by showing that supply and demand exist in balance through pricing mechanisms. The mathematical tools and properties for this theory have developed over time to accommodate and incorporate developments in economic theory, from multiple markets and economic agents to theories of production.

Yves Balasko offers an extensive, up-to-date look at the standard theory of general equilibrium, to which he has been a major contributor. This book explains how the equilibrium manifold approach can be usefully applied to the general equilibrium model, from basic consumer theory and exchange economies to models with private ownership of production. Balasko examines properties of the standard general equilibrium model that are beyond traditional existence and optimality. He applies the theory of smooth manifolds and mappings to the multiplicity of equilibrium solutions and related discontinuities of market prices. The economic concepts and differential topology methods presented in this book are accessible, clear, and relevant, and no prior knowledge of economic theory is necessary.

General Equilibrium Theory of Value offers a comprehensive foundation for the most current models of economic theory and is ideally suited for graduate economics students, advanced undergraduates in mathematics, and researchers in the field.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Preface
Chapter 1. Goods and Prices
Chapter 2. Preferences and Utility
Chapter 3. Demand Functions
Chapter 4. The Exchange Model
Chapter 5. The Equilibrium Manifold
Chapter 6. Applications of the Global Coordinate System
Chapter 7. The Broad Picture
Chapter 8. The Fine Picture
Chapter 9. Production with Decreasing Returns
Chapter 10. Equilibrium with Decreasing Returns
Chapter 11. Production with Constant Returns
Chapter 12. Equilibrium with Constant Returns
Postscript
Appendix A. Notation
Appendix B. Point-set Topology
Appendix C. Smooth Manifolds
Appendix D. Singularities of Smooth Maps
Appendix E. Convexity
Appendix F. Miscellany
References
Index