The foundations of modern economic general equilibrium theory are contained in a surprisingly short list of references. For primary sources, it is sufficient to master Arrow and Debreu (1954), Arrow (1951), Arrow (1953), and Debreu and Scarf (1963). An even shorter list is comprehensive; Debreu (1959) and Debreu and Scarf (1963) cover the topic admirably. Why should anyone write (or read!) a secondary source, a textbook? Because, unfortunately, this body of material is extremely difficult for most students to read and comprehend. Professor Hahn described Debreu's (1959) book as “very short, but it may well take as long to read as many works three times as long. This is not due to faulty exposition but to the demands rigorous analysis makes on the reader. It is to be hoped that no one will be put off by this, for the … return … is very high indeed” (Hahn [1961]). Unfortunately, in teaching economic theory we find that many capable students are indeed put off by the mathematical abstraction of the above works. What theorists regard as elegantly terse expression, students may find inaccessible formality. The focus of this textbook is to overcome this barrier and to make this body of work accessible to a wider audience of advanced undergraduate and graduate students in economics.

This book presents the theory of general economic equilibrium incrementally, from elementary to more sophisticated treatments. Part A (Chapters 1 through 5) presents an elementary introduction.