Collective consumption decisions taken by the members of a household may prove inefficient. The impact of such inefficient household decisions on market performance is investigated. At one extreme, market efficiency can occur even when household decisions are inefficient, namely when household...

The maximal domain theorem by Gul and Stacchetti (J. Econ. Theory 87 (1999), 95-124) implies that for markets with indivisible objects and sufficiently many agents, the set of gross substitutable preferences is a largest set for which the existence of a competitive equilibrium is guaranteed, and...

Welfare maximisation is constrained by the ultimate frontier of efficient allocations, with a unique, interior optimum. By the second welfare theorem, such an optimum depends on a specific wealth distribution out of innumerable ones at given prices, whereby the state cannot refrain from...

We include initial holdings in the jungle economy of Piccione and Rubinstein (Economic Journal, 2007) and relax the assumptions on consumption sets and preferences. We show that initial holdings are irrelevant for lexicographic welfare maximization. Equilibria other than such maximizers can be...

We include initial holdings in the jungle economy of Piccione and Rubinstein (Economic Journal, 2007) in which the unique equilibrium satisfies lexicographic welfare maximization. When we relax assumptions on consumption sets and preferences slightly, equilibria other than lexicographic welfare...

Welfare maximisation is constrained by the ultimate frontier of efficient allocations, with a unique, interior optimum. By the second welfare theorem, such an optimum depends on a specific wealth distribution out of innumerable ones at given prices, whereby the state cannot refrain from...

A univariate real-valued function is said to be completely monotone if it takes positive values and alternate the signs of its higher order derivatives, starting from everywhere negative first derivatives. We prove that the representative consumer's discount factor of a continuous-time economy...

In a continuous-time economy with complete markets, we study how the heterogeneity in the individual consumers' risk tolerance and impatience affects the representative consumer's risk tolerance and impatience. We derive some formulas, which indicate that the representative consumer's impatience...