GENERAL ECONOMIC EQUILIBRIUM WITH FINANCIAL MARKETS AND RETAINABILITY

A theory of general economic equilibrium with incomplete financial markets is developed with many new features, including currency-denominated prices which enable treatment of currency-based derivative instruments and collateralized contracts. Prices in such models with standard market structure have previously been articulated only in “units of account” which have no link to an actual currency and are subject to indeterminancy in scaling. That shortcoming, which prevents ordinary price comparisons between different states, present and future, has stemmed from a focus on consumption as the sole source of economic value, but here retention of goods is allowed to influence their utility as well. The “goods ” are not just commodities and thus can encompass other elements essential to finance. The framework is that of an economy operating in a currency agents find attractive to retain, in balance with other needs. The attractiveness comes from Keynesian considerations about uncertainty which until now have not been brought in. An altered view of time and states helps by loosening the grip of perfect foresight in future markets. Existence is established with a single currency denominating the units of account in al