Hugo F. Sonnenschein

A prominent Walrasian theorist, his various contributions to economics are dominated by one shattering result: the Debreu- Sonnenschein-Mantel Theorem. First explored by Sonnenschein in two papers (1972, 1973) and then followed up by similar papers by Debreu (1972) and Mantel (1974), the DSM Theorem claims that market demand functions, upon which all the "intuitive" results of market-level and macro-level economics rest, are essentially shapeless. It essentially destroyed the "microfoundations" project of economic theory, i.e. to describe demand and supply as a result of the decentralized utility-maximizing agents.  The DSM theorem provides the following result: even if everybody has nicely-shaped individual demand functions, we cannot say that the market demand function will possess a nice shape too. Thus, the efforts that have been made in the last century to describe demand as a result of utility-maximization are essentially wasted - for the desired result

Sonnenschein is presently the President of the University of Chicago. It is unknown whether his decision to move away from academic research and into this administrative post is in any way related to the depressing implications of his famous theorem.

Major Works of Hugo Sonnenschein

• "The Relationship Between Transitive Preferences and the Structure of Choice Space", 1965, Econometrica.
• "Demand Theory without Transitive Preferences", 1971, in Chipman et al., editors, Preferences, Utility and Demand.
• "Market Excess Demand Functions", 1972, Econometrica.
• "Do Walras' Identity and Continuity Characterize a Class of Community Excess Demand Functions?", 1973, JET.
• "The Utility Hypothesis and Market Demand Theory", 1973, Western EJ.
• "Equilibrium in Abstract Economies without Ordered Preferences", with Wayne Shafer, 1975, JMathE.
• "Equilibrium with Externalities, Commodity Taxation and Lump-Sum Transfers", with W. Shafer, 1976, IER
• "The Demand Theory of the Weak Axiom of Revealed Preference", with Kihlstrom and Mas-Colell, 1976, Econometrica.
• "On the Foundations of the Theory of Monopolistic Competition", with John Roberts, 1977, Econometrica.
• "Two Proofs of the Gibbard-Satterhwaite Theorem on the Possibility of a Strategy-Proof Social Choice Function", with D. Schmeidler, 1978, in Gottinger and Leinfellner, editors, Decision Theory and Social Ethics.
• "Cournot and Walras Equilibrium", with William Novshek, 1978, JET.
• "Small Efficient Scale as a Foundation for Walrasian Equilibrium", with W. Novshek, 1980, JET.
• "Market Demand and Excess Demand Functions", with Wayne Shafer, 1982, in Arrow and Intriligator, Handbook of Mathematical Economics, Vol. II. - intro
• "Sequential Bargaining as a Non-Cooperative Foundation for Walrasian Equilibrium", with A. McLennan, 1991, Econometrica
• Editor, Handbook of Mathematical Economics, Vol. IV, with W. Hildenbrand, 1991

Resources on Hugo Sonnenschein

• Chicago magazine interview with Sonnenschein.
• Citation on induction into NAS