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The Rise and Fall of Walras’s Demand and Supply Curves
Author(s) -
Creedy John
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the manchester school
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9957
pISSN - 1463-6786
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9957.00142
Subject(s) - economics , context (archaeology) , partial equilibrium , supply and demand , general equilibrium theory , mathematical economics , utility maximization , demand curve , neoclassical economics , keynesian economics , microeconomics , paleontology , biology
Walras is famous for his indication of how, in principle, demand curves can be derived from utility maximization. However, it is seldom recognized that Walras did not have partial equilibrium demand curves in mind. Instead, he concentrated on the context of exchange. The ‘general equilibrium’ demand and supply curves produced by Walras and extended by Launhardt have subsequently been almost entirely ‘lost’ in the literature, despite their central role in the analysis of exchange. They have been independently rediscovered several times, but the approach has not been systematically developed. The derivation of Walras’s curves is examined in this paper. It is suggested that the approach is potentially very useful, particularly in view of the increased use of non‐linear methods in economics.