Substitutability and the quest for stability

Abstract

The analysis of the stability of a Walrasian tâtonnement is a central chapter in the history of General Equilibrium Theory. The article aims to provide a historical reconstruction of this research program, starting with Hicks’ Value and Capital (1939). It departs from existing narratives by its focus on the concept of substitutability. It is argued that the concept combined various qualities that made it an element of positive heuristic in the research program. The article chronicles the collapse of this positive heuristic in the 1970s and reevaluates the role of Sonnenschein-Mantel-Debreu results.