IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v381y2007icp351-365.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The scope of the LeChatelier Principle

Author

Listed:
  • Lady, George M.
  • Quirk, James P.

Abstract

LeChatelier [Comptes Rendus 99 (1884) 786; Ann. Mines 13 (2) (1888) 157] showed that a physical system's “adjustment” to a disturbance to its equilibrium tended to be smaller as constraints were added to the adjustment process. Samuelson [Foundations of Economic Analysis, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1947] applied this result to economics in the context of the comparative statics of the actions of individual agents characterized as the solutions to optimization problems; and later (1960), extended the application of the Principle to a stable, multi-market equilibrium and the case of all commodities gross substitutes [e.g., L. Metzler, Stability of multiple markets: the hicks conditions. Econometrica 13 (1945) 277–292]. Refinements and alternative routes of derivation have appeared in the literature since then, e.g., Silberberg [The LeChatelier Principle as a corollary to a generalized envelope theorem, J. Econ. Theory 3 (1971) 146–155; A revision of comparative statics methodology in economics, or, how to do comparative statics on the back of an envelope, J. Econ. Theory 7 (1974) 159–172], Milgrom and Roberts [The LeChatelier Principle, Am. Econ. Rev. 86 (1996) 173–179], W. Suen, E. Silberberg, P. Tseng [The LeChatelier Principle: the long and the short of it, Econ. Theory 16 (2000) 471–476], and Chavas [A global analysis of constrained behavior: the LeChatelier Principle ‘in the large’, South. Econ. J. 72 (3) (2006) 627–644]. In this paper, we expand the scope of the Principle in various ways keyed to Samuelson's proposed means of testing comparative statics results (optimization, stability, and qualitative analysis). In the optimization framework, we show that the converse LeChatelier Principle also can be found in constrained optimization problems and for not initially “conjugate” sensitivities. We then show how the Principle and its converse can be found through the qualitative analysis of any linear system. In these terms, the Principle and its converse also may be found in the same system at the same time with respect to the imposition of the same constraint. Based upon this, we expand the cases for which the Principle can be found based upon the stability hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Lady, George M. & Quirk, James P., 2007. "The scope of the LeChatelier Principle," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 381(C), pages 351-365.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:381:y:2007:i:c:p:351-365
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2007.04.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437107003354
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2007.04.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Buck, Andrew J. & Lady, George M., 2005. "Falsifying economic models," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 777-810, September.
    2. George Lady, 2000. "Topics in nonparametric comparative statics and stability," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 6(1), pages 67-83, February.
    3. Mas-Colell, Andreu & Whinston, Michael D. & Green, Jerry R., 1995. "Microeconomic Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195102680.
    4. Silberberg, Eugene, 1971. "The le chatelier principle as a corollary to a generalized envelope theorem," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 146-155, June.
    5. Wing Suen & Paul Tseng & Eugene Silberberg, 2000. "The LeChatelier principle: the long and the short of it," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 16(2), pages 471-476.
    6. Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1996. "The LeChatelier Principle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 173-179, March.
    7. Jean-Paul Chavas, 2006. "A Global Analysis of Constrained Behavior: The LeChatleir Principle "in the Large"," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(3), pages 627-644, January.
    8. Silberberg, Eugene, 1974. "A revision of comparative statics methodology in economics, or, how to do comparative statics on the back of an envelope," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 159-172, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. George Lady & James Quirk, 2010. "The global LeChatelier Principle and multimarket equilibria," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 14(1), pages 193-201, March.
    2. Buck, Andrew J. & Lady, George M., 2012. "Structural sign patterns and reduced form restrictions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 462-470.
    3. Lady, George M. & Buck, Andrew J., 2011. "Structural models, information and inherited restrictions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 2820-2831.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. W D A Bryant, 2009. "General Equilibrium:Theory and Evidence," World Scientific Books, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., number 6875, August.
    2. Peter Arendorf Bache & Anders Laugesen, 2013. "An Industry-Equilibrium Analysis of the LeChatelier Principle," Economics Working Papers 2013-16, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    3. Paul Oslington, 2012. "General Equilibrium: Theory and Evidence," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(282), pages 446-448, September.
    4. George Lady & James Quirk, 2010. "The global LeChatelier Principle and multimarket equilibria," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 14(1), pages 193-201, March.
    5. Arthur Snow, 2000. "LeChatelier Effects for the Competitive Firm under Price Uncertainty," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(3), pages 715-728, January.
    6. Julian Jamison, 2006. "The Le Chatelier Principle in lattices," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 3(2), pages 1-9.
    7. Ludvig Sinander, 2019. "The converse envelope theorem," Papers 1909.11219, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2022.
    8. Andrew J. Buck & George M. Lady, 2015. "A New Approach to Model Verification, Falsification and Selection," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-28, June.
    9. Barney, L. Jr., 1997. "Uncertainty and the comparative dynamics of stock price," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 405-419.
    10. Lady, George M. & Buck, Andrew J., 2011. "Structural models, information and inherited restrictions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 2820-2831.
    11. Alexandrov, Alexei & Bedre-Defolie, Özlem, 2017. "LeChatelier–Samuelson principle in games and pass-through of shocks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 44-54.
    12. Buck, Andrew J. & Lady, George M., 2012. "Structural sign patterns and reduced form restrictions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 462-470.
    13. Ludvig Sinander, 2022. "The Converse Envelope Theorem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(6), pages 2795-2819, November.
    14. Nocetti, Diego C., 2013. "The LeChatelier principle for changes in risk," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 460-466.
    15. Hennessy, David A., 1997. "The short- and long-run comparative statics of uncertainty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 347-353, September.
    16. Daron Acemoglu, 2007. "Equilibrium Bias of Technology," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(5), pages 1371-1409, September.
    17. Jean‐Paul Chavas, 2006. "A Global Analysis of Constrained Behavior: The LeChatelier Principle “in the Large”," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(3), pages 627-644, January.
    18. Roberts, Kevin, 1999. "Rationality and the LeChatelier Principle," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 416-428, August.
    19. Wright, Austin L. & Sonin, Konstantin & Driscoll, Jesse & Wilson, Jarnickae, 2020. "Poverty and economic dislocation reduce compliance with COVID-19 shelter-in-place protocols," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 544-554.
    20. Janvier D. Nkurunziza, 2005. "Reputation and Credit without Collateral in Africa`s Formal Banking," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2005-02, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:381:y:2007:i:c:p:351-365. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.