Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The models of the mature phase
- 1 Walras's conception of a competitive market economy
- 2 The mature models: Not a normative scheme
- 3 The mature models of the barter of stocks of commodities
- 4 Institutions and participants in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 5 Disequilibrium and equilibrium in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 6 The structure of the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 7 The equilibrating processes in the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 8 The structure of the mature comprehensive model
- 9 The equilibrating processes in the mature comprehensive model
- 10 Walras and his critics on the maximum utility of new capital goods
- 11 The mature models of the money market
- 12 Iteration in the mature model of tatonnement
- 13 The mature model of the behavior of the entrepreneur
- 14 Walras versus Edgeworth on tatonnement processes
- Part II The models of the phase of decline
- References
- Collation of editions of the Eléments
- Index
6 - The structure of the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The models of the mature phase
- 1 Walras's conception of a competitive market economy
- 2 The mature models: Not a normative scheme
- 3 The mature models of the barter of stocks of commodities
- 4 Institutions and participants in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 5 Disequilibrium and equilibrium in the model of monetary oral pledges markets
- 6 The structure of the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 7 The equilibrating processes in the mature nondurable consumer commodities model
- 8 The structure of the mature comprehensive model
- 9 The equilibrating processes in the mature comprehensive model
- 10 Walras and his critics on the maximum utility of new capital goods
- 11 The mature models of the money market
- 12 Iteration in the mature model of tatonnement
- 13 The mature model of the behavior of the entrepreneur
- 14 Walras versus Edgeworth on tatonnement processes
- Part II The models of the phase of decline
- References
- Collation of editions of the Eléments
- Index
Summary
This chapter explains and evaluates the structural aspects of the mature model of the production and sale of nondurable consumer commodities that Walras developed in the mature phase of his thought. It is shown that the structural characteristics of the model were carefully designed by Walras to throw light upon a hypothethical economy in which there are only services and nondurable goods.
Introduction
Walras developed a mature model of markets for consumer goods and services and of markets for the primary materials and productive services used to make those commodities. That description of the model and the introduction to this book explain why Walras will not be followed in calling the subject of this chapter “the theory of production.” The model was poorly understood by Walras's contemporaries and has been unrecognized in the twentieth century. In this chapter and the next, this model is frequently called, for brevity, “the consumer commodities model,” but it is not to be confused with the consumer commodities model discussed in section 2. It is also quite different from the consumer commodities model that he wanted to construct during the last phase of his thought and that has erroneously been considered as his best work on the subject. The objectives of the chapter are to identify the parameters of the model, to determine whether or not money is used in it, and to identify and explain those aspects of the structure of the model that are relevant for the determination of prices, rates of production, and sales of consumer commodities, and of the services and primary materials used to make them.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Walras's Market Models , pp. 113 - 128Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996