Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 The coefficient of resource utilization
- 2 A social equilibrium existence theorem
- 3 A classical tax-subsidy problem
- 4 Existence of an equilibrium for a competitive economy
- 5 Valuation equilibrium and Pareto optimum
- 6 Representation of a preference ordering by a numerical function
- 7 Market equilibrium
- 8 Economics under uncertainty
- 9 Topological methods in cardinal utility theory
- 10 New concepts and techniques for equilibrium analysis
- 11 A limit theorem on the core of an economy
- 12 Continuity properties of Paretian utility
- 13 Neighboring economic agents
- 14 Economies with a finite set of equilibria
- 15 Smooth preferences
- 16 Excess demand functions
- 17 The rate of convergence of the core of an economy
- 18 Four aspects of the mathematical theory of economic equilibrium
- 19 The application to economics of differential topology and global analysis
- 20 Least concave utility functions
9 - Topological methods in cardinal utility theory
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2013
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 The coefficient of resource utilization
- 2 A social equilibrium existence theorem
- 3 A classical tax-subsidy problem
- 4 Existence of an equilibrium for a competitive economy
- 5 Valuation equilibrium and Pareto optimum
- 6 Representation of a preference ordering by a numerical function
- 7 Market equilibrium
- 8 Economics under uncertainty
- 9 Topological methods in cardinal utility theory
- 10 New concepts and techniques for equilibrium analysis
- 11 A limit theorem on the core of an economy
- 12 Continuity properties of Paretian utility
- 13 Neighboring economic agents
- 14 Economies with a finite set of equilibria
- 15 Smooth preferences
- 16 Excess demand functions
- 17 The rate of convergence of the core of an economy
- 18 Four aspects of the mathematical theory of economic equilibrium
- 19 The application to economics of differential topology and global analysis
- 20 Least concave utility functions
Summary
In this paper we shall study the concept of cardinal utility in three different situations (stochastic objects of choice, stochastic act of choice; independent factors of the action set) by means of the same mathematical result that gives a topological characterization of three families of parallel straight lines in a plane. This result, proved first by G. Thomsen [24] under differentiability assumptions, and later by W. Blaschke [2] in its present general form (see also W. Blaschke and G. Bol [3]), can be briefly described as follows. Consider the topological image G of a two-dimensional convex set and three families of curves in that set such that (a) exactly one curve of each family goes through a point of G, and (b) two curves of different families have at most one common point. Is there a topological transformation carrying these three families of curves into three families of parallel straight lines? If the answer is affirmative, the hexagonal configuration of Figure l(a) is observed. Let P be an arbitrary point of G, draw through it a curve of each family, and take an arbitrary point A on one of these curves; by drawing through A the curves of the other two families, we may obtain B and B’ and from them C and C’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Mathematical EconomicsTwenty Papers of Gerard Debreu, pp. 120 - 132Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1983
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