Competitive Equilibrium and Indivisibles

Abstract

This paper studies the existence of competitive equilibrium in markets with indivisibles. The basis of the paper is a theorem that relates the existence of equilibrium to the core of certain associated cooperative games. From this result, we obtain a significant improvement on a classical result in this literature. We then characterize the existence of equilibrium in a twoagent three-good economy, showing that, in this particular context, the existence of equilibrium is more likely when goods are complements than when they are substitutes.

Este artigo estuda a existencia de equilibrio competitivo en mercados con indivisibles. A base do artigo é un teorema que relaciona a existencia de equilibrio co núcleo de certos xogos cooperativos asociados. Deste resultado obtemos unha mellora significativa en un resultado clásico nesta literatura. Logo caracterizamos a existencia do equilibrio nunha economía de dous axentes e tres bens mostrando que, neste contexto particular, a existencia de equilibrio é máis probable cando os bens son complementos que cando son substitutivos.