Consumption and time in economics: prices and quantities in a temporary equilibrium perspective

Abstract

The main tenet of the paper is that cost-plus non-competitive prices, while obviously set by firms according to expected market demand for their output, can be assumed to be independent of possible discrepancies between the expected and the actual demand for firms' output. The analysis is placed within Hicks's temporary equilibrium framework, though suggesting an explanation of demand totally different from Hicks's. It is argued that the rationale for the independence of prices from actual sales might be found in Gossen's notion of optimum frequency of consumption.