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Alfred Marshall's Cardinal Theory of Value: The Strong Law of Demand

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Abstract

We show that all the fundamental properties of competitive equilibrium in Marshall's cardinal theory of value, as presented in Note XXI of the mathematical appendix to his Principles of Economics (1890), derive from the Strong Law of Demand. That is, existence, uniqueness, optimality, and global stability of equilibrium prices with respect to tatonnement price adjustment follow from the cyclical monotonicity of the market demand function in the Marshallian general equilibrium model.

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  • Donald J. Brown & Caterina Calsamiglia, 2007. "Alfred Marshall's Cardinal Theory of Value: The Strong Law of Demand," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1615R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jul 2013.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1615r
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    1. John K.-H. Quah, 2000. "The Monotonicity of Individual and Market Demand," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(4), pages 911-930, July.
    2. Bewley, Truman, 1980. "The permanent income hypothesis and short-run price stability," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 323-333, December.
    3. Hildenbrand, Werner, 1983. "On the "Law of Demand."," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(4), pages 997-1019, July.
    4. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    5. Donald J. Brown & Rosa L. Matzkin, 2008. "Testable Restrictions on the Equilibrium Manifold," Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, in: Computational Aspects of General Equilibrium Theory, pages 11-25, Springer.
    6. Donald Brown & Caterina Calsamiglia, 2007. "The Nonparametric Approach to Applied Welfare Analysis," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 31(1), pages 183-188, April.
    7. Mas-Colell, Andreu & Whinston, Michael D. & Green, Jerry R., 1995. "Microeconomic Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195102680.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Yann Rébillé, 2017. "An axiomatization of continuous quasilinear utility," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 40(1), pages 301-315, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cardinal utility; Quasilinear utility; Cyclical monotonicity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B13 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Wicksellian)
    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D51 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Exchange and Production Economies

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