The Walrasian Paradigm in Contemporary Economics

Abstract

Alone, the pair of basic economic activities represented by production and consumption stands for only some economic systems, a destitute Robinson Crusoe economy and a planned one. In a market economy, the basic economic activity of exchange additionally transpires. Its scientific depiction has until today been strongly oriented towards the arrangement of Walras. At first, a well-informed auctioneer chooses to identify a price system that clears all markets. At a single point in time, assuming a system free of transaction costs, the economic entities then put the corresponding pure barter plans into practice directly, i.e. in the absence of a medium of exchange.