Gérard Debreu – I do not consider myself involved in economic policy in any way

The French-born economist and mathematician Gérard Debreu (1921–2004) won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Economics for developing a series of economic concepts, which paved the way for further researches by future economists. In fact, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his stringent redevelopment of the general equilibrium theory and incorporating new deductive and logical methods into economic theory.

The French-born economist and mathematician Gérard Debreu (1921–2004) won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Economics for developing a series of economic concepts, which paved the way for further researches by future economists. In fact, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his stringent redevelopment of the general equilibrium theory and incorporating new deductive and logical methods into economic theory.

Born on 4th of July 1921 in France, Gérard Debreu became a naturalized American citizen much later, in July 1975. He moved to the United States of America in 1948 on a Rockefeller Scholarship, where he was allowed to study in several reputed American universities, namely Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago and Columbia University. As part of his Rockefeller Scholarship, he was also given the opportunity to visit the University of Uppsala and the University of Oslo in the early months of 1950.

Debreu began working as a Research Assistant and joined the Cowles Commission at the University of Chicago in the summer of 1950. There, he remained for five years and co-published with Kenneth Arrow a breakthrough paper “Existence of an Equilibrium for a Competitive Economy” in 1954, arguing the existence of a mathematically derived general equilibrium.

In 1955, Debreu moved to Yale University and published his classical monograph, “Theory of Value: An Axiomatic Analysis of Economic Equilibrium”, considered one of the most significant works in the realm of mathematical economics. Gerard Debreu also studied numerous problems related to the Theory of Cardinal Utility, where the additive decomposition of a utility function is described in terms of a Cartesian product of sets. His principal aim was to display the existence of a price system on the basis of which the combined excess demand balance disappears. He proved it with a type of fixed-point theorem, on the basis of the Kakutani fixed-point theorem.

Debreu also introduced uncertainty and displayed its application in the deterministic model. Here he innovated the concept of a contingent commodity, which today is often used by financial economists, in the form of the Arrow-Debreu security.

Among Debreu’s later researches, mention must be made of the theory of differentiable economies. Here, he indicated that generally, economies are able to achieve a finite number of price equilibria.

In January 1962, he started working at the University of California, Berkeley, where he held the title of University Professor and Class of 1958 Professor of Economics and Mathematics Emeritus. During his leaves in the late 60’s and 70’s, he visited universities in Leiden, Cambridge, Bonn, and Paris.

In 1976, he received the French Legion of Honor. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for having incorporated new analytical methods into economic theory and for his rigorous reformulation of general equilibrium theory.

Debreu died in Paris at the age of 83 of natural causes on New Year’s Eve, 2004, and was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Major publications by Gérard Debreu

Books by Gerard Debreu

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