UNAWARENESS AND BANKRUPTCY - A GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM-MODEL

We present a consistent pure-exchange general equilibrium model where agents may not be able to foresee all possible future contingencies. I n this context, even with nominal assets and complete asset markets, a n equilibrium may not exist without appropriate assumptions. Specific examples are provided. An existence result is proved under the main as sumption that there are sufficiently many states that all the agents f oresee. An intrinsic feature of the model is bankruptcy, which agents may involuntarily experience in the unforeseen states.