Not logged in.

Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Testable implications of general equilibrium theory: A differentiable approach
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Pierre-Andre Chiappori
  • I Ekeland
  • Felix Kübler
  • Herakles M Polemarchakis
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Journal of Mathematical Economics
Publisher Elsevier
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0304-4068
Volume 40
Number 1-2
Page Range 105 - 119
Date 2004
Abstract Text Is general equilibrium theory empirically testable? Our perspective on this question differs fromthe standard, Sonnenschein–Debreu–Mantel (SDM) viewpoint. While the SDM tradition considersaggregate (excess) demand as a function of prices, we suppose that what is observable is the equilibriumprice vector as a function of the fundamentals of the economy.We apply this perspective to anexchange economy where equilibrium prices and individual endowments are observable.We derivenecessary and sufficient conditions that characterize the equilibrium prices, as functions of initialendowments. Furthermore, we show that, if these conditions are satisfied, then the economy cangenerically be identified. Finally, we show that when only aggregate data are available, observablerestrictions vanish.We conclude that the availability of individual data is essential for the derivationof testable consequences of the general equilibrium construct.
Official URL http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304406803001150
Digital Object Identifier 10.1016/j.jmateco.2003.11.002
Other Identification Number merlin-id:6962
PDF File Download from ZORA
Export BibTeX
EP3 XML (ZORA)