Rob Axtell () (Brookings Institution and Santa Fe Institute)
Abstract
Recent results on the computational complexity of Brouwer and Kakutani fixed points is reviewed. It is argued that the non-polynomial complexity of fixed-point algorithms makes Walrasian general equilibrium an unrealistic model of real markets. A radically more decentralized and distributed picture of markets involves repeated bilateral trade between agents in a large population. Such bilateral exchange processes converge to equilibrium allocations that are Pareto optimal and are meaningfully viewed as a kind of massively parallel, distributed computation of Pareto optimal allocations. It is proved that bilateral exchange processes are in P , the class of problems that can be solved in polynomial time. The number of bilateral interactions required to reach equilibrium is proportional to AN^2 , where A is the number of agents and N is the number of commodities.
Download Info
To our knowledge, this item is not available for
download. To find whether it is available, there are three
options:
1. Check below under "Related research" whether another version of this item is available online.
2. Check on the provider's web page
whether it is in fact available.
3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be
available.