Saving "the Market” out of Cambridge: “Equilibrium”
How would we like “equilibrium”? As always, we have to clarify what we mean with the term. As a rule of thumb, we would very much as regards to a mechanism , but should never as regards to an organism . For instance, the vending machine out of equilibrium must be put on with a sign “out of order.” Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine. As quipped by one of the Founding Fathers, on the contrary, an organism is finished when it in equilibrium finishes changing. At any rate, we come across such terms as “the equilibrium price” and “the general equilibrium” as often as we open a textbook thereabout: the former in elementary economics as abstract science, the latter in Cambridge macroeconomics as “empirical science.” Between you and me, the 20 th -century macroecono...