An overview of the objectives of the book

This book is about Walrasian economics, meaning the economics of Léon Walras and the economics in which other scholars have used his ideas. It has two general objectives. One is to present an accurate account of the foundations and basic components of Walras's models of general economic equilibration and equilibrium. The other is to trace the influence of that legacy on his contemporaries and successors. It will be understood that when reference is made in this book to his “legacy,” the word is used to mean his legacy of economic theorizing, not of his normative ideas.

In treating the subject, I have made an effort to reach an audience wider than general equilibrium specialists. I have therefore explained some theoretical propositions that are elementary knowledge to general equilibrium specialists but not to some students and not to some economists who concentrate on other fields of research. The book is as self-contained as is possible with subject matters that are infinitely extendable in various detailed respects. Virtually all the material in this book is new research, undertaken specifically for it, but treatments in greater depth of a few of the topics, notably a few of the topics taken up in Chapters 5 and 6, are given in Walker 1996.