I’d like to request a book on Mathematical Economics that teaches you the basics of building and solving utility based microeconomic models (without strategic behavior).
Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics by Alpha C. Chiang is a sufficient basis for entering a graduate programme in Economics. Mathematics for Economists by Carl P. Simon and Lawrence Blume is a higher level book. For miroeconomics as such you probably want to start with Intermediate Microeconomics by Hal Varian, and if you need more you can go to Microeconomic Analysis by same. David D. Friedman’s Price Theory is absolutely fine and on his website, free as well.
Could you clarify what you are looking for? When I think of mathematical micro models without strategic behavior, my mind goes to general equilibrium models with a continuum of agents. Your use of ‘building’ suggests you are thinking of something else though.
Since most economists think the Arrow-Debreu model is essentially synonymous with general equilibrium, it just seems odd to talk about building models. If you are thinking of ‘model’ as a description of a particular economy rather than as a general framework, there are books on computable general equilibrium, but I can’t give any particular recommendations.
If you are looking for standard GE theory, look at Existence and Optimality of General Equilibrium by Aliprantis, Burkinshaw, and Brown. It is currently very cheap used on Amazon. There is also a companion book with all the end-of-chapter problems and solutions.
I think I was projecting my skepticism of GE models onto you, assuming that couldn’t be what you are really asking for. I’m not sure what theorems about complete-market economies tell us about the real world. There are GE models with incomplete markets, but they involve differential topology beyond my grasp.
OK, I guess I had in mind something significantly simpler. I am trying to build a model for gaining and sharing understanding. Therefore, I require analytic solutions or another way of characterizing the behavior of the model.
Here’s the problem I am trying to model. I want to model a multiple period monetary economy with money treated as a good and couple of other goods and monetary trade only. I am trying to model a minimal interesting model of this sort, so I don’t fundamentally care how many agents or other goods there are. I guess the model will probably have two representative agents, and two goods. My model should be ‘general equilibrium’ in the sense that it is modeling the whole economy, but obviously doesn’t need to have remotely complete markets. This seems like it should be possible to do without getting into anything especially fancy, but perhaps I misunderstand.
Alright, hopefully I can give useful recommendations by this point...
Varian’s Microeconomic Analysis is probably the best to learn the basics of consumer theory and GE analysis. Since these models don’t have any frictions, there isn’t any role for money. If you are interested in monetary models, try looking through Kiyotaki and Wright’s On Money as a Medium of Exchange or Shapley and Shubik’s Trade Using One Commodity as a Means of Payment. These are relatively accessible micro-founded models that should give you an idea of where to head, even if they don’t make complete sense now. I don’t think models like these have percolated into any textbooks yet.
I’d like to request a book on Mathematical Economics that teaches you the basics of building and solving utility based microeconomic models (without strategic behavior).
Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics by Alpha C. Chiang is a sufficient basis for entering a graduate programme in Economics. Mathematics for Economists by Carl P. Simon and Lawrence Blume is a higher level book. For miroeconomics as such you probably want to start with Intermediate Microeconomics by Hal Varian, and if you need more you can go to Microeconomic Analysis by same. David D. Friedman’s Price Theory is absolutely fine and on his website, free as well.
Oh good, I’ve already read Varian, and Chiang was what I was starting to look at.
Could you clarify what you are looking for? When I think of mathematical micro models without strategic behavior, my mind goes to general equilibrium models with a continuum of agents. Your use of ‘building’ suggests you are thinking of something else though.
That actually sounds like exactly what I want. Can you clarify why ‘building’ indicates otherwise? I meant ‘building’ as in ‘constructing’.
Since most economists think the Arrow-Debreu model is essentially synonymous with general equilibrium, it just seems odd to talk about building models. If you are thinking of ‘model’ as a description of a particular economy rather than as a general framework, there are books on computable general equilibrium, but I can’t give any particular recommendations.
If you are looking for standard GE theory, look at Existence and Optimality of General Equilibrium by Aliprantis, Burkinshaw, and Brown. It is currently very cheap used on Amazon. There is also a companion book with all the end-of-chapter problems and solutions.
I think I was projecting my skepticism of GE models onto you, assuming that couldn’t be what you are really asking for. I’m not sure what theorems about complete-market economies tell us about the real world. There are GE models with incomplete markets, but they involve differential topology beyond my grasp.
OK, I guess I had in mind something significantly simpler. I am trying to build a model for gaining and sharing understanding. Therefore, I require analytic solutions or another way of characterizing the behavior of the model.
Here’s the problem I am trying to model. I want to model a multiple period monetary economy with money treated as a good and couple of other goods and monetary trade only. I am trying to model a minimal interesting model of this sort, so I don’t fundamentally care how many agents or other goods there are. I guess the model will probably have two representative agents, and two goods. My model should be ‘general equilibrium’ in the sense that it is modeling the whole economy, but obviously doesn’t need to have remotely complete markets. This seems like it should be possible to do without getting into anything especially fancy, but perhaps I misunderstand.
Do you have any advice?
Alright, hopefully I can give useful recommendations by this point...
Varian’s Microeconomic Analysis is probably the best to learn the basics of consumer theory and GE analysis. Since these models don’t have any frictions, there isn’t any role for money. If you are interested in monetary models, try looking through Kiyotaki and Wright’s On Money as a Medium of Exchange or Shapley and Shubik’s Trade Using One Commodity as a Means of Payment. These are relatively accessible micro-founded models that should give you an idea of where to head, even if they don’t make complete sense now. I don’t think models like these have percolated into any textbooks yet.
OK, thanks! Those are all helpful suggestions.