Janos Kornai and General Equilibrium Theory

Mehrdad Vahabi

No 2017-16, CEPN Working Papers from Centre d'Economie de l'Université de Paris Nord

Abstract: This paper explores the evolution of Kornai’s thought on General Equilibrium Theory (GET) and his position on mainstream economics. Three moments in this evolution will be highlighted starting by rejecting GET and advocating disequilibrium in Anti-Equilibrium (1971). While Kornai does not treat the ‘equilibrium paradigm’ as irrelevant, he suggests an alternative paradigm, namely economic systems theory that he further develops in the eighties as ‘system paradigm’. Economics of Shortage (1980) marks a second phase in which Kornai distinguishes Walrasian equilibrium from normal state or Marshallian equilibrium. In this phase, he supports Marshallian equilibrium rather than disequilibrium. Finally By Force of Thought (2006) is a critical self-appraisal in which Kornai considers Anti-Equilibrium as a ‘failure’ and acknowledges GET as a benchmark of an ideal competitive market. He now advocates a Walrasian equilibrium as an abstract reference model but refuses to consider this model as a description of reality. In this sense, he refuses the New Classical economics. Paradoxically however, his original heterodox concept of ‘soft budget constraint’, irreconcilable with standard microeconomics, has been integrated in new microeconomics as an optimal intertemporal strategy of a maximizing agent in the absence of credible commitments. It will be argued that Kornai’s so-called failure is rather related to his half-in, half-out mainstream position, while his institutionalist system paradigm is still a heterodox research project of the future.

Keywords: Disequilibrium; Economic Systems Theory; General Equilibrium Theory; Marshallian and Walrasian Equilibrium; New Microeconomics; Normal State; System Paradigm (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B3 D5 E1 P2 P5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme and nep-pke
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepn.univ-paris13.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/DT-CEPN-2017-16.pdf (application/pdf)
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01583569/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: János Kornai and General Equilibrium Theory (2018)
Working Paper: János Kornai and general equilibrium theory (2018)
Working Paper: Janos Kornai and General Equilibrium Theory (2017)
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:upn:wpaper:2017-16

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPN Working Papers from Centre d'Economie de l'Université de Paris Nord Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Pascal Seppecher ().