The Number of Commodities Required to Represent a Market Game

Sergiu Hart


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Abstract
An n-person game with side payments that can arise from an economic market is called a market game. It is proved here that any n-person market game can be obtained from a market with n - 1 commodities. Moreover, no smaller number will suffice in some cases (e.g., the unanimity game). The result is then applied to settle a question regarding market games with a continuum of traders.

Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: 021, 022