IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cla/uclawp/502.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Non-Atomic Economies and the Boundaries of Perfect Competition

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph M. Ostroy

    (UCLA)

  • William R. Zame

    (UCLA)

Abstract

The distinction between nonatomicity and thick markets as the source of perfect competition is examined. The authors construct a model of an imperfectly competitive economy with a nonatomic continuum of traders and a continuum of differentiated commodities for which Walrasian equilibria exist. The failure of perfect competition is identified in two ways: individuals can affect prices and the core is strictly larger than the set of Walrasian allocations. By contrast, it is shown that, when markets are physically or economically thick (or both), then individuals cannot typically affect prices and the core always coincides with the set of Walrasian allocations. Copyright 1994 by The Econometric Society.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph M. Ostroy & William R. Zame, 1988. "Non-Atomic Economies and the Boundaries of Perfect Competition," UCLA Economics Working Papers 502, UCLA Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cla:uclawp:502
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.econ.ucla.edu/workingpapers/wp502.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jaskold Gabszewicz, Jean & Vial, Jean-Philippe, 1972. "Oligopoly "A la cournot" in a general equilibrium analysis," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 381-400, June.
    2. Ostroy, Joseph M, 1984. "A Reformulation of the Marginal Productivity Theory of Distribution," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 599-630, May.
    3. Simon, Leo K & Zame, William R, 1990. "Discontinuous Games and Endogenous Sharing Rules," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(4), pages 861-872, July.
    4. Gretsky, Neil E & Ostroy, Joseph M & Zame, William R, 1992. "The Nonatomic Assignment Model," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 2(1), pages 103-127, January.
    5. Oliver D. Hart, 1979. "Monopolistic Competition in a Large Economy with Differentiated Commodities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 46(1), pages 1-30.
    6. Aliprantis, Charalambos D & Brown, Donald J & Burkinshaw, Owen, 1987. "Edgeworth Equilibria," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(5), pages 1109-1137, September.
    7. Jones, Larry E., 1983. "Existence of equilibria with infinitely many consumers and infinitely many commodities : A theorem based on models of commodity differentiation," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 119-138, October.
    8. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    9. Jones, Larry E, 1984. "A Competitive Model of Commodity Differentiation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 507-530, March.
    10. Mas-Colell, Andreu, 1975. "A model of equilibrium with differentiated commodities," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 263-295.
    11. Dubey, Pradeep & Mas-Colell, Andreau & Shubik, Martin, 1980. "Efficiency properties of strategies market games: An axiomatic approach," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 339-362, April.
    12. Artstein, Zvi, 1979. "A note on fatou's lemma in several dimensions," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 277-282, December.
    13. Gerard Debreu, 1963. "On a Theorem of Scarf," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 30(3), pages 177-180.
    14. Novshek, William & Sonnenschein, Hugo, 1978. "Cournot and Walras equilibrium," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 223-266, December.
    15. Mas-Colell, Andreu, 1986. "The Price Equilibrium Existence Problem in Topological Vector Lattice s," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(5), pages 1039-1053, September.
    16. Romer, Paul M, 1987. "Growth Based on Increasing Returns Due to Specialization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 56-62, May.
    17. Pascoa Mario Rui, 1993. "Noncooperative Equilibrium and Chamberlinian Monopolistic Competition," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 335-353, August.
    18. Young, Allyn A., 1928. "Increasing Returns and Economic Progress," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 38, pages 527-542.
    19. Zame, William R, 1987. "Competitive Equilibria in Production Economies with an Infinite-Dimensional Commodity Space," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(5), pages 1075-1108, September.
    20. Yannelis, Nicholas C. & Zame, William R., 1986. "Equilibria in Banach lattices without ordered preferences," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 85-110, April.
    21. Bewley, Truman F, 1973. "The Equality of the Core and the Set of Equilibria in Economies with Infinitely Many Commodities and a Continuum of Agents," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(2), pages 383-394, June.
    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. Charalambos Aliprantis & Kim Border & Owen Burkinshaw, 1996. "Market economies with many commodities," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 19(1), pages 113-185, March.
    2. Aliprantis, Charalambos D. & Florenzano, Monique & Tourky, Rabee, 2005. "Linear and non-linear price decentralization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 51-74, March.
    3. Tourky, Rabee, 1999. "Production equilibria in locally proper economies with unbounded and unordered consumers," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 303-315, November.
    4. Aliprantis, Charalambos D. & Tourky, Rabee & Yannelis, Nicholas C., 2001. "A Theory of Value with Non-linear Prices: Equilibrium Analysis beyond Vector Lattices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 22-72, September.
    5. Ostroy, Joseph M., 1984. "On the existence of walrasian equilibrium in large-square economies," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 143-163, October.
    6. Podczeck, Konrad, 1996. "Equilibria in vector lattices without ordered preferences or uniform properness," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 465-485.
    7. Aliprantis, Charalambos D. & Border, Kim C. & Burkinshaw, Owen, 1997. "Economies with Many Commodities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 62-105, May.
    8. Charalambos Aliprantis & Rabee Tourky, 2009. "Equilibria in incomplete assets economies with infinite dimensional spot markets," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 38(2), pages 221-262, February.
    9. Martin Shubik & Myrna Holtz Wooders, 1982. "Approximate Cores of a General Class of Economies: Part II. Set-Up Costs and Firm Formation in Coalition Production Economies," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 619, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    10. Martins-da-Rocha, V. Filipe & Riedel, Frank, 2010. "On equilibrium prices in continuous time," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 1086-1112, May.
    11. Abramovich, Y A & Aliprantis, C D & Zame, W R, 1995. "A Representation Theorem for Riesz Spaces and Its Applications to Economics," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 5(3), pages 527-535, May.
    12. Aliprantis, Charalambos D. & Florenzano, Monique & Tourky, Rabee, 2006. "Production equilibria," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4-5), pages 406-421, August.
    13. Zigrand, Jean-Pierre, 2004. "A general equilibrium analysis of strategic arbitrage," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 923-952, December.
    14. Aliprantis, Charalambos D. & Florenzano, Monique & Tourky, Rabee, 2004. "General equilibrium analysis in ordered topological vector spaces," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-4), pages 247-269, June.
    15. Monique Florenzano & Valeri Marakulin, 2000. "Production Equilibria in Vector Lattices," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1396, Econometric Society.
    16. Charalambos D. Aliprantis & Monique Florenzano & Rabee Tourky, 2004. "Equilibria in production economies," Cahiers de la Maison des Sciences Economiques b04116, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    17. Herves-Beloso, Carlos & Moreno-Garcia, Emma & Nunez-Sanz, Carmelo & Rui Pascoa, Mario, 2000. "Blocking Efficacy of Small Coalitions in Myopic Economies," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 72-86, July.
    18. Hervés Beloso, Carlos & Moreno García, Emma, 1996. "Coaliciones y competencia perfecta," DE - Documentos de Trabajo. Economía. DE 3362, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    19. Larry E. Jones, 1983. "The Efficiency of Monopolistically Competitive Equilibria in Large Economies: Commodity Differentiation With Pure Substitutes," Discussion Papers 574, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    20. Tourky, Rabee, 1998. "A New Approach to the Limit Theorem on the Core of an Economy in Vector Lattices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 321-328, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:cla:uclawp:502. 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: David K. Levine (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.econ.ucla.edu/ .

    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.