On Walras's concept of equilbirium

ARIEL DVOSKIN; ANDRÉS LAZZARINI

REVIEW OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group

Año: 2013 vol. 25 p. 117 - 138

0953-8259

The view that Walras´s equilibrium concept refers to a temporary general equilibrium with stationary expectations has come to be the conventional opinion within the history of economics. This interpretation overlooks salient aspects of Walras´s original equilibrium concept: (i) that it refers to a centre of gravitation, thus equilibrium must be assessed together with the adjustment mechanisms that are supposed to bring the economy towards its position of rest; (ii) that it attempts to represent a persistent position of the economic variables; and (iii) that it must not be regarded as a mere artificial model disconnected from reality, but as a device to understand how actual economies work. We therefore conclude that the scope of Walras´s work can be better grasped by interpreting his equilibrium system as aiming to describe a long-period position of the economy.