----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- [Posted on behalf of David Dequech. -- RBE] From: "David Dequech" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: HES: QUERY -- neoclassical knowledge Lawrence Boland has quoted Marshall on perfect competition requiring perfect knowledge. Even if the assumption of perfect knowledge was not explicitly adopted by the earlier neoclassical economists (Shackle argued it was often a tacit assumption), it became, as we know, a standard feature of the neoclassical theory of perfect competition. This perhaps began in the thirties in response to the debate on imperfect and monopolistic competition. If I'm not mistaken, Chamberlain distinguished between perfect and pure competition by associating the former and not the latter with the assumption of perfect knowledge of the relevant variables. I remember reading a 1992 paper by Claudio Sardoni in which he says that Kahn and Robinson, on the other hand, insisted on using the term perfect. Cheers, David Dequech ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]