Finding Equilibrium: Arrow, Debreu, McKenzie and the Problem of Scientific Credit

(Hardback)

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Finding Equilibrium explores the post-World War II transformation of economics by constructing a history of the proof of its central dogma--that a competitive market economy may possess a set of equilibrium prices. The model economy for which the theorem could be proved was mapped out in 1954 by Kenneth Arrow and Gerard Debreu collaboratively, and by Lionel McKenzie separately, and would become widely known as the "Arrow-Debreu Model." While Arrow and Debreu would later go on to win separate Nobel prizes in economics, McKenzie would never receive it. Till Duppe and E. Roy Weintraub explore the lives and work of these economists and the issues of scientific credit against the extraordinary backdrop of overlapping research communities and an economics discipline that was shifting dramatically to mathematical modes of expression. Based on recently opened archives, Finding Equilibrium shows the complex interplay between each man's personal life and work, and examines compelling ideas about scientific credit, publication, regard for different research institutions, and the awarding of Nobel prizes. Instead of asking whether recognition was rightly or wrongly given, and who were the heroes or villains, the book considers attitudes toward intellectual credit and strategies to gain it vis-a-vis the communities that grant it. Telling the story behind the proof of the central theorem in economics, Finding Equilibrium sheds light on the changing nature of the scientific community and the critical connections between the personal and public rewards of scientific work.

Reviews

Winner of the 2016 Joseph J. Spengler Best Book Prize, History of Economics Society "[An] engaging and illuminating history of the mid-twentieth-century proofs of competitive general equilibrium and the three authors associated with them."--S. Abu Turab Rizvi, Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics "The book has a marvelous and incredibly detailed reconstruction of the paths pursued by the three protagonists with mathematical details suppressed."--Olav Bjerkholt, EH.Net "A fascinating history about modern economics and some of its key historical actors ... also a treatise on historiography."--Marcel J. Boumans, History of Economic Ideas "Finding Equilibrium is a testament to the importance of writing the history of recent economics. The fact that it is a gripping read ... only adds to the impressiveness of Duppe and Weintraub's accomplishment. May it have many imitators."--Steven G. Medema, Journal of the History of Economic Thought

Author Bio

Till Duppeis assistant professor of economics at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal. He is the author of"The Making of the Economy".E. Roy Weintraubis professor of economics at Duke University. He is the author of"How Economics Became a Mathematical Science".