Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The models of the mature phase
- 1 Walras's conception of a competitive market economy
- 2 The mature models: Not a normative scheme
- 3 The mature models of the barter of stocks of commodities
- 4 Institutions and participants in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 5 Disequilibrium and equilibrium in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 6 The structure of the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 7 The equilibrating processes in the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 8 The structure of the mature comprehensive model
- 9 The equilibrating processes in the mature comprehensive model
- 10 Walras and his critics on the maximum utility of new capital goods
- 11 The mature models of the money market
- 12 Iteration in the mature model of tatonnement
- 13 The mature model of the behavior of the entrepreneur
- 14 Walras versus Edgeworth on tatonnement processes
- Part II The models of the phase of decline
- References
- Collation of editions of the Eléments
- Index
7 - The equilibrating processes in the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The models of the mature phase
- 1 Walras's conception of a competitive market economy
- 2 The mature models: Not a normative scheme
- 3 The mature models of the barter of stocks of commodities
- 4 Institutions and participants in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 5 Disequilibrium and equilibrium in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 6 The structure of the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 7 The equilibrating processes in the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 8 The structure of the mature comprehensive model
- 9 The equilibrating processes in the mature comprehensive model
- 10 Walras and his critics on the maximum utility of new capital goods
- 11 The mature models of the money market
- 12 Iteration in the mature model of tatonnement
- 13 The mature model of the behavior of the entrepreneur
- 14 Walras versus Edgeworth on tatonnement processes
- Part II The models of the phase of decline
- References
- Collation of editions of the Eléments
- Index
Summary
This chapter shows how Walras's mature nondurable consumer commodities model functions in regard to pricing, exchange, production, and consumption. It is shown, for the first time, how Walras explored the interesting field of possible alternative paths of disequilibrium production and sales of consumer commodities and services. After the discussion of the endogenous processes of the model, the conditions that he specified as parameters and that were discussed in chapter 6 are reexamined to see if they are in fact unchanged by those processes.
Introduction
The chapter describes the process of equilibration in Walras's mature nondurable consumer commodities model. It is shown how the model moves toward equilibrium by means of a pricing process in which disequilibrium transactions, disequilibrium production, and disequilibrium consumption occur. It is also shown that Walras explored an adjustment mechanism with prices as independent variables and another with both prices and quantities as independent variables. It is determined whether or not the conditions he considered to be parameters of his model are in fact independent of the equilibrating process, and thus it is determined whether or not his system of equations truly describes the model.
Services
Who changes the price?
The first aspect of the functioning of the mature model of the production and sale of nondurable consumer commodities to be considered is by whom the price of a commodity is changed. In this model, as in all of Walras's models, regardless of the phase in which he constructed them and regardless of their subject, there are no particular-market or central authorities that change and quote prices.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Walras's Market Models , pp. 129 - 154Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996