Abstract
The theory of general equilibrium in economics has its origin in the work of the classical economists. The perception of its most important implication, that competitive markets can achieve an allocation of resources that is efficient in some sense, is present in Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, 1776. Although Leon Walras (1874) and Edgeworth (1881) are considered to be the precursors of the theory, as we know it today, many other authors are recognized to have contributed to its theoretical development. Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill can be regarded as early expositors of general equilibrium theory while Stanley Jevons and Carl Menger also contributed to the development of important neoclassical elements present in the general equilibrium theory. Modern theorists of general equilibrium did not emerge until the 1930s. The main issues examined related to the existence, uniqueness and stability of equilibrium, and comparative statics. The classic works by Debreu (1959) and Arrow and Hahn (1971) formalized the main results of the field and established general equilibrium as a recognized field in economics. (For an historical introduction to the development of general equilibrium analysis, see Arrow & Hahn, 1971; for recent developments, see Eatwell, Milgate, & Newman, 1989; and Starr, 2001)
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