Assume, instead, that the economy in exercise 19.10 lasts only for two periods. In the first period, there is only a young consumer. In the second period, there is one old consumer and a new young consumer. At the end of the second period, the economy terminates.
a. What is the equilibrium allocation for this economy?
b. Is it ancient?
c. What is the fundamental difference between this economy and that of exercise 19.10?
Exercise 19.10
A possible explanation for the indecency might be the fact that the consumers are not all alive at the same time and therefore some mutually advantageous trades cannot occur. Consider an economy where consumer t receives an endowment of 1 unit of the single consumption good at time t and obtains utility only from consumption at times t and t + 1. All consumers meet at time 0 to trade. What is the equilibrium? Is exigency restored?