New Goods

Kiminori Matsuyama

No 1124, Discussion Papers from Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science

Abstract: The standard practice in economic theory is to assume that all the relevant variables (e.g., the space of all the goods of potential economic value) and all the relevant constraints are known to the policymaker or to the designer of an economic system. This often unstated assumption (or the belief implictly embodied in it) inadvertently creates an illusion about our ability to design an economic system and control the process of resource allocation. In this paper, a series of examples is developed to illustrate that this modelling approach has the danger of misdirecting our attention when evaluating alternative forms of economic system. Some implications for reforms in the former socialist economies are also drawn.

Date: 1995-05
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/math/papers/1124.pdf main text (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:nwu:cmsems:1124

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Discussion Papers from Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science, Northwestern University, 580 Jacobs Center, 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-2014. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Fran Walker ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).