Рыночное равновесие без рынка: модель Эрроу–Дебре и эпистемологический кризис мейнстрима

Market equilibrium without the market: the Errow-Debrah model and the epistemological crisis of the mainstream

Paata Leiashvily

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The Arrow–Debreu model is regarded as the benchmark of rigor in neoclassical theory and the mathematical form of the “invisible hand.” This essay contests that status. Its starting claim is simple. The conditions under which the model proves the existence of equilibrium do not idealize the market but negate it: in a world of complete contingent markets, without money, irreversible time, or genuine uncertainty, a market is neither needed nor possible. The model proves equilibrium precisely where no market exists. Hence its central conclusion. The existence theorem and the two welfare theorems yield no gain in knowledge about the real economy. They yield knowledge about the properties of a specially constructed system; they are called “economic” by intended subject matter, not by the knowledge obtained. The essay shows how this differs from legitimate idealization in physics: a Galilean model can be de-idealized, the Arrow–Debreu model cannot, and reality does not converge to it even asymptotically (SMD). In this the author sees an epistemological crisis of the mainstream — one sustained not by the force of argument but by institutional reproduction through departments, journals, and textbooks. The critique takes an unusual form: four dialogues with artificial intelligence (DeepSeek, Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini). Its value lies not in the systems’ agreement but in the resistance that had to be overcome: independently trained yet disposed to defend the mainstream, under sustained pressure each denied the model the status of economic knowledge. The dialogues also expose a second theme — how a dominant paradigm entrenches itself as “common sense,” including within AI tools. The stakes exceed academic dispute: they concern the content of economic education and the discipline’s way out of its crisis.

Keywords: Arrow–Debreu model; general equilibrium; welfare theorems; economic methodology; epistemology; idealization and abstraction; Sonnenschein–Mantel–Debreu theorem; critique of neoclassical economics; economics education; AI in research. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 B50 D50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe and nep-inv
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