In this section Hicks briefly discusses the significance of what has been presented thus far about the systems of equations derived by the methods of Walras. Hicks considers it "a great achievement to have shown, even so schematically, the interrelation of markets." But he also acknowledges that many economists have felt that Walras's approach has a certain "sterility" about it. He suggests that the reason for this sterility is that Walras did not proceed to work out the laws of change for these types of systems. The theory presented up to this point tells us what conditions must be satisfied by a set of equilibrium prices established for a given system of resources and preferences, but it does not explain what will happen if these preferences or resources change.
Hicks will begin to address these questions in the next chapter.
Housekeeping note: This will be the final post of 2015. Thanks to everyone for reading; please continue to read the blog, and send me any feedback you have. Ideally, I would like to finish the book in 2016, which would mean I would have to pick up the pace significantly: there are about 240 pages remaining (excluding the mathematical appendix, which I do not intend to cover); thus I would need to cover about 20 pages per month, instead of the 5 or so that I averaged in 2015. This will be a challenge, but we'll see how it goes.
Best wishes to all for a happy new year.
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