In this paper we critically examine the main workhorse model in asset pricing theory, the Lucas (1978) tree model (LT-Model), extended to include heterogeneous agents and multiple goods, and contrast it to the benchmark model in financial equilibrium theory, the real assets model (RA-Model)....

This paper examines how, in the presence of individual risk, economic efficiency can be achieved without an unrealistically large number of contingent markets. The authors show that consistency of beliefs and optimality of allocation can be guaranteed with an appropriate array of Arrow...

The authors investigate the structure of competitive equilibria in an exchange economy parametrized by endowments and restrictions on market participation. For arbitrary regular endowments, if few consumers are restricted, there are no sunspot equilibria. If endowments are allowed to vary, while...

Recent work on general equilibrium models with incomplete financial markets has demonstrated that when assets pay off in units of account, equilibrium prices and allocations are indeterminate. The equilibria in such models are also generically constrained suboptimal. A central planner can...

In this paper I investigate the nature of the beliefs which agents must hold (at least implicitly) in order to justify their considering various alternatives, in two distinct settings: the Walrasian model without production (with competitive equilibrium), and the sell-all version of the...