The purpose of this note is to provide some clarification on the so-called representation theorems of neoclassical utility theory. In particular, it is argued that there is some misunderstanding regarding precisely what conclusions may be properly drawn from these theorems, and that there seems to be a tendency among neoclassical economists to misapply these theorems. Reference will be made to ...

Walrasian tâtonnement has been a fundamental assumption in economics ever since Walras’ general equilibrium theory was introduced in 1874. Nearly a century after its introduction, Vernon Smith relaxed the Walrasian tâtonnement assumption by showing that neoclassical competitive market theory explains the equilibrating forces in “double-auction” markets. I make a next step in this evolution by e...

The development of the permanent income/life cycle consumption hypothesis was a key blow to Keynesian and Kaleckian economics, and, according to George Akerlof, it “set the agenda” for modern neoclassical macroeconomics. This paper focuses on the relationship of housing wealth to neoclassical consumption theory, and in particular, the degree to which homes can be treated collectively with other...

This paper pits neoclassical theory against prospect theory by investigating several clean tests of the competing hypotheses. Consistent with previous work, the field experimental data suggest that prospect theory adequately organizes behavior among inexperienced consumers, whereas consumers with intense market experience behave largely in accordance with neoclassical predictions. The data indi...

Abstract Why do states overestimate threats and, as a result, mount disproportionately strong and therefore costly balancing responses? To answer this question, we build neoclassical realist theory of overbalancing to argue that unit-level intervening variables help generate counterforce greater than what structurally induced ideal response would call for. We identify the factors conditions ste...

We present a numerical and analytic assessment of the transport in two quasi-axially symmetric stellarators, including one variant of the MHH2 class[l] of such devices, and a configuration we refer t o as NHH2, closely related t o MHH2. Monte Carlo simulation results are compared with expectations from established stellarator neoclassical theory, and with some empirical stellarator scalings, us...