ARROW AND DEBREU DE-HOMOGENIZED

TILL DÜPPE
2012 Journal of the History of Economic Thought  
The so-called Arrow-Debreu model, until today, represents a trademark of rigorous economic researchbe it as a benchmark for extending the model, for weakening its assumptions, for structuring data-sets, or for providing alternative models. But who earns credit or blame? This essay presents "the making of" Arrow"s and Debreu"s joint article of 1954 as documented in their extensive letter exchange between their first contact in February 1952 and its submission in May 1953. I show, first, that
more » ... w and Debreu did not share the same interest in their work, that they played different roles, and drew different lessons from it. Having argued that, neither Arrow nor Debreu could identify with the way the profession would later refer to the Arrow-Debreu model. To the contrary, both, in their own ways, sought to counter what others perceived as limitations when placing their hopes in the Arrow-Debreu model.
doi:10.1017/s1053837212000491 fatcat:p7gs3skxqjhg7h26bd2uewtzwq