The dynamics of general equilibrium
Authored by Herbert Gintis
Date Published: 2007-10
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02083.x
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Abstract
The Walrasian general equilibrium model is the centrepiece of modern economic theory, but progress in understanding its dynamical properties has been meagre. This article shows that the instability of Walras' tatonnement process is due to the public nature of prices, which leads to excessive correlation in the behaviour of economic agents. When prices are private information, a dynamic with a globally stable stationary state obtains in economies that are unstable in the tatonnment process. We provide an agent-based model of a multi-sector Walrasian economy with production and exchange, in which prices are private information. This economy is dynamically well behaved.
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