Breaking Out of the Walrasian Box: The Cases of Schumpeter and Hansen

Rothbard, Murray N. "Breaking Out of the Walrasian Box: The Cases of Schumpeter and Hansen." The Review of Austrian Economics. Spring 1987.

Excerpt:

Since World War II, mainstream neoclassical economics has followed the general equilibrium paradigm of Swiss economist Leon Walras (1834-1910). Economic analysis now consists of the exegesis and elaboration of the Walrasian concept of general equilibrium, in which the economy pursues an endless and unchanging round of activity — what the Walrasian Joseph Schumpeter aptly referred to as “the circular flow.” Since the equilibrium economy is by definition a changeless and unending round of robotic behavior, everyone on the market has perfect knowledge of the present and the future, and the pervasive uncertainty of the real world drops totally out of the picture. Since there is no more uncertainty, profits and losses disappear, and every business firm finds that its selling price exactly equals its cost of production.

Online:
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