Hahn's problem¶
Hahn's problem (or Hahn's question) refers to the theoretical challenge of building general equilibrium models where money does not enter preferences, yet has a positive equilibrium value.
Core Idea¶
Hahn's problem is treated here as the recurring socialscienceshumanitiesarts identity summarized by this source-grounded definition: Hahn's problem (or Hahn's question) refers to the theoretical challenge of building general equilibrium models where money does not enter preferences, yet has a positive equilibrium value. Hahn's problem (or Hahn's question) refers to the theoretical challenge of building general equilibrium models where money does not enter preferences, yet has a positive equilibrium value. Money, since it is intrinsically worthless and is not demanded for its own sake, may not be made to enter the utility function and be present.
Scope of Application¶
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Documented setting. Money, since it is intrinsically worthless and is not demanded for its own sake, may not be made to enter the utility function and be present like any other good.
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Documented setting. The problem is named after the British economist Frank Hahn, who outlined it in his critique of Don Patinkin's placing money inside the utility function.
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Documented setting. Hahn's problem (or Hahn's question) refers to the theoretical challenge of building general equilibrium models where money does not enter preferences, yet has a positive equilibrium value.
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Documented setting. Money, since it is intrinsically worthless and is not demanded for its own sake, may not be made to enter the utility function and be present like any other good.
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Documented setting. The problem is named after the British economist Frank Hahn, who outlined it in his critique of Don Patinkin's placing money inside the utility function.
Clarity¶
A clear use of Hahn's problem names the carrier, the operative relation, and the conditions under which the source treats the identity as present. The minimal definition is Hahn's problem (or Hahn's question) refers to the theoretical challenge of building general equilibrium models where money does not enter preferences, yet has a positive equilibrium value.
Manages Complexity¶
Hahn's problem compresses multiple socialscienceshumanitiesarts details into a stable diagnostic relation. The source shows both the central mechanism—money, since it is intrinsically worthless and is not demanded for its own sake, may not be made to enter the utility function and be present like any other good.—and the practical consequence—the problem is named after the British economist Frank Hahn, who outlined it in his critique of Don.
Abstract Reasoning¶
- Type the carrier. Identify the socialscienceshumanitiesarts entities to which the claim applies.
- State the relation. Use the source-grounded identity: Hahn's problem (or Hahn's question) refers to the theoretical challenge of building general equilibrium models where money does not enter preferences, yet has a positive equilibrium value.
- Check operation and conditions. The problem is named after the British economist Frank Hahn, who outlined it in his critique of Don Patinkin's placing money inside the utility function.
- Demand recognition evidence.
Knowledge Transfer¶
Within the home domain. Knowledge about Hahn's problem transfers literally when a new case preserves the same carrier type, relation, and recognition test. Money, since it is intrinsically worthless and is not demanded for its own sake, may not be made to enter the utility function and be present like any other good. The problem is named after the British economist Frank Hahn, who outlined it in his critique of Don Patinkin's placing money.
Relationships to Other Abstractions¶
Current abstraction Hahn's problem Domain-specific
Parents (1) — more general patterns this builds on
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Hahn's problem presupposes Equilibrium Prime
Hahn's problem asks how money can have positive value in a general-equilibrium model without entering preferences.
Hierarchy path (1) — routes to 1 parentless root
- Hahn's problem → Equilibrium → Fixed Point
Neighborhood in Abstraction Space¶
Hahn's problem sits in a sparse region of the domain-specific corpus (74th percentile for distinctiveness): few abstractions share its structure, so a faithful description tends to retrieve it precisely.
Family — Microeconomic Theory & Welfare Criteria (13 abstractions)
Nearest neighbors
- Wicksell's theory of capital — 0.84
- Elasticity of intertemporal substitution — 0.83
- Merton's portfolio problem — 0.83
- Control-Lyapunov function — 0.83
- Composite Good — 0.83
Computed from structural-signature embeddings · 2026-10-08