On Walras's Concept of Equilibrium

Ariel Dvoskin and Andrés Lazzarini

Review of Political Economy, 2013, vol. 25, issue 1, 117-138

Abstract: The view that Walras's equilibrium concept refers to a temporary general equilibrium with stationary expectations has come to be the conventional opinion within the history of economics. This interpretation overlooks salient aspects of Walras's original equilibrium concept: (i) that it refers to a centre of gravitation, thus equilibrium must be assessed together with the adjustment mechanisms that are supposed to bring the economy towards its position of rest; (ii) that it attempts to represent a persistent position of the economic variables; and (iii) that it must not be regarded as a mere artificial model disconnected from reality, but as a device to understand how actual economies work. We therefore conclude that the scope of Walras's work can be better grasped by interpreting his equilibrium system as aiming to describe a long-period position of the economy.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1080/09538259.2013.737127

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