Prakash and Sertel's theory of non-cooperative equilibria in social systems-Twenty years later

Abstract

This paper is intended as a companion to the paper 'Existence of non-cooperative equilibria in social systems by Prakash and Sertel (1974b) appearing in this volume. It aims to perform two tasks: (1) to give the reader a glimpse at the literature relevant to the existence of equilibria in social systems as it has developed since the writing of the Prakash and Sertel (PS) paper; and (2) to provide a class of examples illustrating where the PS notions of a social system and the non-cooperative equilibrium of a social system generalize the well-known concepts of games, abstract economies and their associated equilibria, showing how the existence theory of PS even today bears economic results beyond where alternative theories are applicable.