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In most simple microeconomic stories of supply and demand a static equilibrium is observed in a market; however, economic equilibrium can be also dynamic. Equilibrium may also be economy-wide or general, as opposed to the partial equilibrium of a single market. Equilibrium can change if there is a change in demand or supply conditions.
Partial equilibrium, as the name suggests, takes into consideration only a part of the market to attain equilibrium. Jain proposes (attributed to George Stigler ): "A partial equilibrium is one which is based on only a restricted range of data, a standard example is price of a single product, the prices of all other products being held fixed ...
In the examples above, a competitive equilibrium existed when the items were substitutes but not when the items were complements. This is not a coincidence. Given a utility function on two goods X and Y, say that the goods are weakly gross-substitute (GS) if they are either independent goods or gross substitute goods, but not complementary goods.
It follows that the market value of total excess demand in the economy must be zero, which is the statement of Walras's law. Walras's law implies that if there are n markets and n – 1 of these are in equilibrium, then the last market must also be in equilibrium, a property which is essential in the proof of the existence of equilibrium.
For example, if the MRS xy = 2, the consumer will give up 2 units of Y to obtain 1 additional unit of X. As one moves down a (standardly convex) indifference curve, the marginal rate of substitution decreases (as measured by the absolute value of the slope of the indifference curve, which decreases).
The concept of an excess demand function is important in general equilibrium theories, because it acts as a signal for the market to adjust prices. [2] The assumption is that the rate of change of the price of a commodity will be proportional to the value of the excess demand function for that commodity, eventually leading to an equilibrium state in which excess demand for all commodities is ...
Market equilibrium computation is interesting due to the fact that a competitive equilibrium is always Pareto efficient. The special case of a Fisher market, in which all buyers have equal incomes, is particularly interesting, since in this setting a competitive equilibrium is also envy-free. Therefore, market equilibrium computation is a way ...
The money market equilibrium diagram. The LM curve shows the combinations of interest rates and levels of real income for which the money market is in equilibrium. It shows where money demand equals money supply. For the LM curve, the independent variable is income and the dependent variable is the interest rate.