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Indivisibilities, Lotteries and Sunspot Equilibria

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  • Karl Shell
  • Randall Wright

Abstract

We analyze economies with indivisible commodities. There are two reasons for doing so. First, we extend and provide some new insights into sunspot equilibrium theory. Finite competitive economies with perfect markets and convex consumption sets do not allow sunspot equilibria; these same economies with nonconvex consumption sets do, and they have several properties that can never arise in convex environments. Second, we provide a reinterpretation of the employment lotteries used in contract theory and in macroeconomic models with indivisible labor. We show how socially optimal employment lotteries can be decentralized as competitive equilibria without lotteries once sunspots are introduced.
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  • Karl Shell & Randall Wright, 2010. "Indivisibilities, Lotteries and Sunspot Equilibria," Levine's Working Paper Archive 2061, David K. Levine.
    • Handle: RePEc:cla:levarc:2061
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    References listed on IDEAS

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