After discussing shortcomings in the work of some contemporary theorists, Walker (economics, Indiana U.) offers a new approach to the construction of general equilibrium models. He discusses the meaning of perfect competition and the features of markets that give rise to it, the differences between virtual models and those in which disequilibrium transactions and production occur, the implications of determinacy for modeling, and the dependence of general equilibrium on the path that is followed in disequilibrium. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

General Equilibrium Theory: An Introduction treats the classic Arrow-Debreu general equilibrium model in a form accessible to graduate students and advanced undergraduates in economics and mathematics. Topics covered include mathematical preliminaries, households and firms, existence of general equilibrium, Pareto efficiency of general equilibrium, the First and Second Fundamental Theorems of Welfare Economics, the core and core convergences, future markets over time and contingent commodity markets under uncertainty. Demand, supply, and excess demand appear first as (point-valued) functions, then optionally as (set-valued) correspondences. The mathematics presented (with elementary proofs of the theorems) includes a real analysis, the Brouwer fixed point theorem, and separating and supporting hyperplane theorems. Optional chapters introduce the existence of equilibrium with set-valued supply and demand, the mathematics of upper and lower hemicontinuous correspondences, and the Kakutani fixed point theorem. The treatment emphasizes clarity and accessibility to the student through use of examples and intuition.

Written by one of the key pioneers in the field, this book offers an accessible introduction to general equilibrium theory. Written for undergraduates taking courses in economic theory and modelling who have limited mathematical proficiency, the book fills a gap between forbidding technical expositions and the less rigorous elementary ones.

This book presents an original exposition of general equilibrium theory for advanced undergraduate and graduate-level students of economics. It contains detailed discussions of economic efficiency, competitive equilibrium, the first and second welfare theorems, the Kuhn-Tucker approach to general equilibrium, the Arrow-Debreu model, and rational expectations equilibrium and the permanent income hypothesis. Truman Bewley also treats optimal growth and overlapping generations models as special cases of the general equilibrium model. He uses the model and the first and second welfare theorems to explain the main ideas of insurance, capital theory, growth theory, and social security. It enables him to present a unified approach to portions of macro- as well as microeconomic theory. The book contains problems sets for most chapters.