Economic foundations of symmetric programming

the long version

"This textbook on symmetric programming is for graduate students who have already taken a graduate course in microeconomic theory"-- "This book formulates and discusses models of producers' economic behavior using the framework of mathematical programming. Furthermore, it introduces the Symmetry Principle in economics and demonstrates its analytical power in dealing with problems hitherto considered either difficult or intractable. It assumes that its readers have a beginner's knowledge of calculus and linear algebra and that, at least, they have taken an intermediate course in microeconomics. The treatment of economic behavior expounded in this book acquires an operational character that, in general, is not present in a theory course. In a microeconomics course, for example, -- even at the graduate level -- the treatment of a monopolist's behavior considers only one commodity"--