IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/oropre/v38y1990i3p377-385.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mathematical Programming and Economic Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Herbert E. Scarf

    (Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut)

Abstract

This paper, which is based on the remarks offered during a plenary address at the May 1989 CORS/TIMS/ORSA meeting in Vancouver, discusses the analogy between economic institutions and algorithms for solving mathematical programming problems. The simplex method for solving linear programs can be interpreted as a search for market prices that equilibrate the demand for factors of production with their supply. A possible interpretation in terms of the internal organization of a large firm is offered for Lenstra's integer programming algorithm.

Suggested Citation

  • Herbert E. Scarf, 1990. "Mathematical Programming and Economic Theory," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 38(3), pages 377-385, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:38:y:1990:i:3:p:377-385
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.38.3.377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/opre.38.3.377
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/opre.38.3.377?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tjalling C. Koopmans & Martin J. Beckmann, 1955. "Assignment Problems and the Location of Economic Activities," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 4, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Truchon, Michel, 1988. "Programmation mathématique et théorie économique," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 64(2), pages 143-156, juin.
    2. Hao Li & Shewin Rosen, 1996. "Unraveling in Assignment Markets," NBER Working Papers 5729, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Heidrun C. Hoppe & Benny Moldovanu & Aner Sela, 2009. "The Theory of Assortative Matching Based on Costly Signals," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 253-281.
    4. Ma, Jinpeng, 1998. "Competitive Equilibrium with Indivisibilities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 458-468, October.
    5. Marcus Berliant & Yves Zenou, 2014. "Labor Differentiation and Agglomeration in General Equilibrium," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 37(1), pages 36-65, January.
    6. Dennis W. Carlton & Gustavo E. Bamberger & Roy J. Epstein, 1995. "Antitrust and Higher Education: Was There a Conspiracy to Restrict Financial Aid?," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(1), pages 131-147, Spring.
    7. Eric Bonabeau & Florian Henaux & Sylvain Gu'erin & Dominique Snyers & Pascale Kuntz & Guy Theraulaz, 1998. "Routing in Telecommunications Networks with ``Smart'' Ant-Like Agents," Working Papers 98-01-003, Santa Fe Institute.
    8. Ted Bergstrom & David Lam, "undated". "The Effect of Cohort Sizes on Marriage Markets in Twentieth Century Sweden," Papers _029, University of Michigan, Department of Economics.
    9. Milgrom, Paul, 2010. "Simplified mechanisms with an application to sponsored-search auctions," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 62-70, September.
    10. Lahiri, Somdeb, 2008. "Envy-free solutions, Non-linear equilibrium and Egalitarian-equivalence for the Package Assignment Problem," MPRA Paper 8444, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Jeremy T. Fox & Patrick Bajari, 2013. "Measuring the Efficiency of an FCC Spectrum Auction," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 100-146, February.
    12. Maggie Xiaoyang Chen, 2013. "The Matching Of Heterogeneous Firms And Politicians," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 1502-1522, April.
    13. Berliant, Marcus & Peng, Shin-Kun & Wang, Ping, 2006. "Welfare analysis of the number and locations of local public facilities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 207-226, March.
    14. Melvyn G. Coles & Jan Eeckhout, 2000. "Heterogeneity as a coordination device," Economics Working Papers 510, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    15. Rosen, Sherwin, 1988. "Transactions Costs and Internal Labor Markets," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 49-64, Spring.
    16. Melvyn G. Coles & Jan Eeckhout, "undated". "Efficient Job Allocation," Penn CARESS Working Papers f254df043aa954b9f2d76c248, Penn Economics Department.
    17. Jeremy T. Fox, 2018. "Estimating matching games with transfers," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(1), pages 1-38, March.
    18. Sherwin Rosen, 1977. "Labor Quality, the Demand for Skill, and Market Selection," NBER Working Papers 0162, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Grossbard, Shoshana, 2010. "How “Chicagoan” Are Gary Becker’S Economic Models Of Marriage?," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(3), pages 377-395, September.
    20. Jeremy T. Fox, 2010. "Identification in matching games," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 1(2), pages 203-254, November.

    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:inm:oropre:v:38:y:1990:i:3:p:377-385. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.