General equilibrium

Unlike partial equilibrium analysis which study the equilibrium of a particular market under the clause "ceteris paribus" that revenues and prices on the other markets stay approximately unaffected, the ambition of a general equilibrium model is to analyze the simultaneous equilibrium in all markets of a competitive economy. Definition of the abstract model, some of its basic results and insights are presented. The important issues of uniqueness and local uniqueness of equilibrium are sketched ; they are the condition for a predictive power of the theory and its ability to allow for statics comparisons. Finally, we review the main extensions of the general equilibrium model. Besides the natural extensions to infinitely many commodities and to a continuum of agents, some examples show how economic theory can accommodate the main ideas in order to study some contexts which were not thought of by the initial model.Commodity space, price space, exchange economy, production economy, feasible allocations, equilibrium, quasi-equilibrium, Pareto optimum, core, edgeworth equilibrium allocutions, time and uncertainty, continuum economies, non-convexities, public goods, incomplete markets.

Optimal growth path in an OLG economy without time-preference assumptions : main results

The aim is to characterize optimal growth paths in an OLG economy where capital accumulation is achieved through bequests, without using the assumption of time preference theory on a social level, because such an assumption, that leads to use a discounted infinite horizon sum, introduce necessarily inequality between the different generations of the society. I investigated two optimality concepts: Pareto-optimality and consensual optimality. I considered the case without technical change. I found that all steady-state optimal growth paths converge necessarily to a level of capital where the marginal gain from a decrease of bequest is equal to the marginal loss from a similar decrease of heritage. With the use of an intergenerational altruistic utility, I showed that spontaneous equilibrium cannot be an optimal growth path unless generations feel (asymptotically) for their heirs as they feel for themselves.optimal growth, OLG economy, time-preference assumption, Pareto-optimality, egalitarianism, golden rule

THE ASSURANCE PROBLEM AND CONJECTURAL VARIATION IN PUBLIC GOODS PROVISION

Public Economics,

Debt and Conditionality under Endogenous Terms of Trade Adjustment

The purpose of this study is to identify conditions under which renewed international. lending will benefit both the developed and the developing countries. Our analysis will evaluate how the presence of terms of trade adjust-rent and distorted credit markets affect the conditions for the existence of beneficial lending. We demonstrate that in the presence of endogenous terms of trade adjustment, there are cases in which a competitive international banking system may not revitalize lending for investment purposes, even if such renewed lending is socially desirable, Renewed lending may require the appropriate conditionality, and the presence of endogenous terms of trade adjustment puts greater weight on investment conditionality.