Toward a Theory of Dynamic General Equilibrium

In the second half of the 1930s, Amoroso returned to the project of his youth: dynamizing the theory of general equilibrium. The theoretical impasse in the field of dynamics was overcome with the application of the calculus of variations. In a few years, Amoroso formulated a complete model of the economic dynamics of general equilibrium. He also realized one of the fundamental goals of his research program—to fully demonstrate the analogy between economic and mechanical phenomena. Even in the sphere of production, it was possible to discern (with some useful expedience and by maintaining certain differences) the operation of the principle of the conservation of energy, one of the basic principles of classical physics. At the international level, to find further energetic interpretations energetic interpretation of productionof the economic theory of production, we would have to wait for Samuelson and Solow’s 1956 essay, in which they proposed demonstrating the correspondence between the principle of energy conservation and the theory of capital. The last episode in this research direction is most likely represented by Hamiltonian dynamics,Hamiltonian dynamics developed to solve the problem of instability in optimal multisector models. A major contribution to this analytic tradition was made by CassCass, D. and ShellShell, K. (1976), who were the first to address the problem of global stability by emphasizing the analogies between economic and mechanical dynamic systems.