Gerard Debreu was born in France. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1983, for his work on general equilibrium economics. He is University Professor and Class of 1958 Professor, of Economics and Mathematics at the University of California at Berkley.
In 1954, Debreu and Kenneth Arrow published a paper proving that under fairly unrestrictive assumptions, prices exist that bring markets into equilibrium. The following was written by Debreu in,"Eminent Economists: Their Life Philosophies":
"...engaging in controversy over the merits and demerits of the theory of general equilibrium has low priority in contrast to participating in its construction. In this task, mathematical form powerfully contributes to defining a philosophy o f economic analysis whose major tenets include rigor, generality, and simplicity. It commands the long search for the most direct secure routes from assumptions to conclusions. It dictates its aesthetic code, and it imposes its terse language. Another tenet of that philosophy is recognition, and acceptance, of the limits of economic theory, which cannot achieve a grand unified explanation of economic phenomena. Instead, it adds insights to the perception of the areas to which it turns its search. Wh en they are gained by accepting mathematical challenges, those insights are the highest prizes sought by a mathematical economist."
Works by Gerard Debreu:
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