The Adjustment Processes in Walras's Consumer Commodities Model in the Mature Phase of his Thought

Donald A. Walker

Revue Économique, 1994, vol. 45, issue 6, 1357-1376

Abstract: [fre] The Adjustment Processes in Wakas's. Consumer Commodities Model in the Mature Phase of His Thought. . Cet article identifie les processus d'équilibrage dans le modèle du marché des biens et services de consommation développé par Léon Walras au cours de la phase de maturité de sa pensée, de 1877 à 1895 environ. Ce modèle n'a pas été bien compris par les économistes contemporains de Walras, et n'a plus été étudié au vingtième siècle. Or, il est tout à fait différent du modèle que Walras a développé dans la dernière phase de sa pensée et qui a été erronément considéré comme sa meilleure œuvre sur le sujet. L'article montre que Walras a voulu construire un modèle qui converge vers l'équilibre à travers un processus des prix dans lequel les transactions, la production et la consommation sont déséquilibrées. Il montre également que Walras a exploré plusieurs mécanismes alternatifs d'ajustement, certains avec les prix comme variables indépendantes, d'autres avec les quantités. L'article détermine si les conditions, que Walras considère des paramètres, sont indépendantes de ce processus, et arrive ainsi à déterminer si le système d'équations de Walras décrit vraiment le modèle. [eng] The adjustment processes in walras's consumer commodities model in the mature phase of his thought. . This article identifies the process of equilibration in the consumer commodities model that Walras developed during the mature phase of his thought, from 1877 to about 1895. The model was poorly understood by Walras's contemporaries and has been unrecogni­zed in the present century. Attention has instead been concentrated on the model that he developed in the last phase of his thought and that has erroneously been considered to be his best work on the subject. The article shows that Walras wanted to construct a model that converges toward equilibrium by means of a pricing process in which disequilibrium transactions, disequilibrium production, and disequilibrium consumption occur. It shows also that he explored several alternative adjustment mechanisms, some of them with prices as independent variables, and others with quantities as independent variables. The article determines if the conditions that Walras considered to be parameters of his model are in fact independent of the equilibrating process, and thus arrives at a determination of whether Walras's system of equations truly describes the model.

Date: 1994
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