The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

Living Edition
| Editors: Palgrave Macmillan

Separability

  • Charles Blackorby
  • Daniel Primont
  • R. Robert Russell
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1723-2
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Abstract

Given a smooth increasing function, two variables are separable from a third if the marginal rate of substitution between the first two variables is independent of the third. In this case it is possible to construct an aggregator function over the first two variables that is independent of the third. This is much weaker than additive separability or additivity. We show that separability is equivalent to decentralization and that additive separability is closely related to two-stage budgeting.

Keywords

Additivity Conditional indirect utility function Consumer expenditure Decentralization Demand theory Gorman, W. M. Gorman’s overlapping th Indirect utility function Leontief, W. Marginal rates of substitution Optimal income allocation Price aggregation Separability Social welfare function Two-stage budgeting Sono independence Strotz, R. 

JEL Classifications

D0 
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Bibliography

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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2008

Authors and Affiliations

  • Charles Blackorby
    • 1
  • Daniel Primont
    • 1
  • R. Robert Russell
    • 1
  1. 1.