Customer Reviews

General Equilibrium Theory: An Introduction

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This textbook is a concise technical introduction to the mechanics of General Equilibrium, one of two main branches of economic theory. The text does not cover this extensive field in all its capacity. Instead, we have a step-by-step construction of the main models presented with great care for details, so that the reader can learn precision, careful modeling and all necessary details. Moreover, it's useful for people who have difficulty proving theorems.

There is a special bonus that might encourage you to buy the text. The fixed-point theorems are covered in a brilliant, really excellent way. There is no way around that tool in General Equilibrium, and while having difficulty with more sophisticated texts, I found Starr's book to be very helpful in this respect.

I agree with the previous reviewer that this book is an effort at a step-by-step approach to General Equilibrium for the student who cannot swallow everything all at once. Nevertheless, big flaws mar the exposition in a way that makes it very annoying to the expert and confusing to the point of uselessness for the beginner.

There are at least five big theorems -- and probably more -- in which key assumptions are misstated; or not stated at all; or assumptions are stated which are not needed and are never used. Signs are messed up in key parts of proofs, leading to no end of confusion.

In general, the sloppiness of the exposition is breathtaking. The sophisticated student will find himself able to prove the theorems more elegantly and correctly than the author and will be annoyed by the author's errors. The beginning student will often be completely lost in the proofs or statements which are incomprehensible (because they are wrong, but the student does not know that). Chapter 17 is a particularly egregious example.

This book is a stab at something that is sorely needed -- a readable, elementary, and accessible introduction to General Equilibrium. Unfortunately, Starr flubs it. A second edition of this book, with the mistakes eliminated, might be quite good. As it stands, I would not recommend it to anyone who does not want to spend hours of frustration correcting the author's sloppiness.

I base this review on only two sections of this book that I have read: Brouwer fixed point theorem and Kakutani fixed point theorem. I think It does what its title suggests. It really is a good introduction to General Equilibrium theory. I am surprised how carefully each proof in this book is constructed. . In fact, the reason I picked this book was that I was looking for a book that explains the proofs of these two fixed point theorem, as I had never studied it. I think it was a right decision that I chose to learn from this book. Each proof is very much in detail. At times I find it tedious, as the previous reviewer mentioned, to the degree that it is sloppy, especially the proof of Sperner's Lemma. Students who are slow at following proofs should find this book understandable. Another great motivation to buy this book is that its mathematical appendices are easy to understand. It should make a good supplement when one has to start learning Advanced Microeconomics by Mascolell's.

Remark: This book is full of typos. Do not read it without having seen the errata unless you want to be confused.