General equilibrium theory behind the iron curtain: the case of Victor Polterovich

Ivan Boldyrev and Olessia Kirtchik

HSE Working papers from National Research University Higher School of Economics

Abstract: In this paper we address the story of developments in general equilibrium theory (GET) in the USSR during the 1970s through the lens of a single biography. The Soviet advances in mathematical economics, only fragmentarily known in the West, give an occasion to reflect on the extension of the Walrasian paradigm to non-market societies, as well as on the ideological effects of GET and its interpretations in a Soviet context. Our contribution is focused on the development of general equilibrium theorizing in the work of Victor Meerovich Polterovich (b. 1937) who has been one of the leading figures in mathematical economics and general equilibrium theory in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia. His papers on the abstract models of exchange, dynamic general equilibrium and optimal growth theory, excess demand correspondences, monotonicity of demand functions, and disequilibrium theory were for the large part published in English and gained considerable attention within the field. We reconstruct the political and ideological basis of the general equilibrium concept and show how abstract mathematical models reflected the discursive shift from optimal centralized planning to various forms of decentralization. We argue that the Soviet work on general equilibrium was a part of the global development of mathematical economics but was not integrated into it institutionally

Keywords: general equilibrium theory; mathematical economics; history of recent economics; Soviet economics; decentralization; planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B16 B21 B23 B31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-hpe and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in WP BRP Series: Humanities / HUM, February 2013, pages 1-27

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.hse.ru/data/2013/02/21/1306670053/14HUM2013.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: General Equilibrium Theory behind the Iron Curtain: The Case of Victor Polterovich (2014)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hig:wpaper:14hum2013

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in HSE Working papers from National Research University Higher School of Economics
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Shamil Abdulaev () and Shamil Abdulaev ().