The non-existence of smooth demand in general Banach spaces (Q1117127): Difference between revisions

We study the questions of existence and smoothness of demand functions with an infinite number of commodities. The main result obtained under some hypotheses, is: if a \(C^ 1\) demand exists in a commodity space B, then B can be given an inner products structure. For example, if B is \(L_ p\), \(1\leq p\leq \infty\), and if there exists a \(C^ 1\) demand function defined on B then p must be 2. Another result is: if a demand function exists, defined for all prices p and income, then the commodity space must be reflexive. For example, if B is \(L_ p\) and a demand function exists on B, defined for all prices and incomes then \(1<p<\infty\). We also study the cases \(L_{\infty}\) and \(L_ 1\) with weaker assumptions. We finish the paper proving that the demand function is always defined for a dense set of prices and convenient incomes.