• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Neighborhood Systems for Production Sets with Indivisibilities
  • Contributor: Scarf, Herbert E.
  • Published: The Econometric Society, 1986
  • Published in: Econometrica, 54 (1986) 3, Seite 507-532
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 0012-9682; 1468-0262
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: A production set with indivisibilities is described by an activity analysis matrix with activity levels which can assume arbitrary integral values. A neighborhood system is an association with each integral vector of activity levels of a finite set of neighboring vectors. The neighborhood relation is assumed to be symmetric and translation invariant. Each such neighborhood system can be used to define a local maximum for the associated integer programs obtained by selecting a single commodity whose level is to be maximized subject to specified factor endowments of the remaining commodities. It is shown that each technology matrix (subject to mild regularity assumptions) has a unique, minimal neighborhood system for which a local maximum is global. The complexity of such minimal neighborhood systems is examined for several examples.