[论文解读] The Classical Theory of Supply and Demand

Sabiou M. Inoua, Vernon L. Smith|arXiv (Cornell University)|Jul 1, 2023

Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics参考文献 25被引用 7

一句话总结

论文将供给与需求的经典观通过保留价格（WTP/WTA）及其累积分布形式化，并主张它与新古典理论不同，是实验经济学的基础。

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces and formalizes the classical view on supply and demand, which, we argue, has an integrity independent and distinct from the neoclassical theory. Demand and supply, before the marginal revolution, are defined not by an unobservable criterion such as a utility function, but by an observable monetary variable, the reservation price: the buyer's (maximum) willingness to pay (WTP) value (a potential price) and the seller's (minimum) willingness to accept (WTA) value (a potential price) at the marketplace. Market demand and supply are the cumulative distribution of the buyers' and sellers' reservation prices, respectively. This WTP-WTA classical view of supply and demand formed the means whereby market participants were motivated in experimental economics although experimentalists (trained in neoclassical economics) were not cognizant of their link to the past. On this foundation was erected a vast literature on the rules of trading for a host of institutions, modern and ancient. This paper documents textually this reappraisal of classical economics and then formalizes it mathematically. A follow-up paper will articulate a theory of market price formation rooted in this classical view on supply and demand and in experimental findings on market behavior.

研究动机与目标

• 用可观测的保留价格来定义需求/供给的经典框架，而非不可观察的效用函数。
• 将经典观与新古典的边际效用方法区分开来。
• 记录并形式化经典概念及其对交易规则和市场行为的影响。
• 为后续以经典观与实验发现为基础的市场价格形成理论奠定基础。

提出的方法

• 将市场需求和供给定义为买方的WTP和卖方的WTA保留价格的累积分布。
• 对经典的供给与需求框架提供数学形式化。
• 将经典观与在各类机构中的交易规则以及实验经济学联系起来。
• 概述以此经典方法为基础的未来价格形成理论的期望。

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 如何在经典框架内使用保留价格而非效用函数来定义并区分供给与需求？
• RQ2 WTP和WTA保留价格如何通过它们的累积分布转化为市场的总需求与供给？
• RQ3 经典观对交易规则和实验经济学的含义为何，与新古典视角有何不同？
• RQ4 这一经典框架为未来的市场价格形成理论提供了哪些基础？

主要发现

• 需求与供给由可观测的货币变量定义，具体为买方愿意支付的最高金额WTP和卖方愿意接受的最低金额WTA。
• 市场需求和供给分别对应买方的WTP和卖方的WTA的累积分布。
• 经典观为解释交易行为和实验结果奠定基础，包括关于多机构交易规则的广泛文献。
• 本文对经典经济学进行了文本与数学上的再评估，为以此观点为基础的未来市场价格形成理论奠定基础。