Yves Balasko - Böcker

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.

The theory of general equilibrium offers a simplified guide to how real economies function: it describes how price, demand, supply and production interact in multiple markets and tend towards a state of equilibrium. The first attempt to model this interaction was made in the late nineteenth century, but it remained a largely theoretical exercise until the computer age, when large amounts of data could be processed to model national economies on an unprecedented scale.Yves Balasko, one of the key pioneers in the field, offers an accessible introduction to general equilibrium theory and some of its most important developments of the past fifty years. The book begins with an historical presentation of general equilibrium theory that includes the two theorems of welfare economics and also a new proof of the existence of an equilibrium. The central chapters examine the main results of the theory of general equilibrium that can be obtained by following the equilibrium manifold and natural projection approach. The final chapter demonstrates the potential for extending the general equilibrium model beyond the market economy by introducing uncertainty and contingent commodities.Written for students taking courses in economic theory and modelling who have relatively limited mathematical proficiency, the book fills a gap between forbidding technical expositions and the less rigorous elementary ones. As a masterly summation of developments in equilibrium theory by one of the subject’s leading figures, it will also be welcomed by economists working across applied and computable general equilibrium analysis.

The theory of general equilibrium offers a simplified guide to how real economies function: it describes how price, demand, supply and production interact in multiple markets and tend towards a state of equilibrium. The first attempt to model this interaction was made in the late nineteenth century, but it remained a largely theoretical exercise until the computer age, when large amounts of data could be processed to model national economies on an unprecedented scale.Yves Balasko, one of the key pioneers in the field, offers an accessible introduction to general equilibrium theory and some of its most important developments of the past fifty years. The book begins with an historical presentation of general equilibrium theory that includes the two theorems of welfare economics and also a new proof of the existence of an equilibrium. The central chapters examine the main results of the theory of general equilibrium that can be obtained by following the equilibrium manifold and natural projection approach. The final chapter demonstrates the potential for extending the general equilibrium model beyond the market economy by introducing uncertainty and contingent commodities.Written for students taking courses in economic theory and modelling who have relatively limited mathematical proficiency, the book fills a gap between forbidding technical expositions and the less rigorous elementary ones. As a masterly summation of developments in equilibrium theory by one of the subject’s leading figures, it will also be welcomed by economists working across applied and computable general equilibrium analysis.