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I wonder why this post is voted to close as off-topic when the one who posted the question has mentioned the source of the problem which contains both the answer and the question, and the intention of the poster is to improve his understanding of how the problem is solved - clearly indicating it is not a homework question and the intention of the poster is not to cheat but to understand.

How do we find pareto optimal points in a 2 goods simple exhange economy?

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  • $\begingroup$ Could you explain why you consider the question was not homework? Possibly there is some difference of understanding as to the meaning of homework. $\endgroup$
    – Adam Bailey
    May 12, 2017 at 16:38
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    $\begingroup$ @AdamBailey: I guess it's because the question and answer were from an online economics education initiative that Amit is part of. [BTW, I must say that this is an admirable endeavor.] $\endgroup$
    – Herr K.
    May 13, 2017 at 6:24
  • $\begingroup$ @Amit As you seem to be the author of the original problem set I wonder why you do not add additional detail to the answer there rather than on this site? $\endgroup$
    – Giskard
    May 14, 2017 at 20:39
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    $\begingroup$ @denesp Let me explain using the timeline. At $t=0$, I posted the question on econschool.in along with many other questions. I provided detailed explanations to some questions on that site and brief ones to some. At $t = 1$, some student practicing questions from that site found the explanation inadequate and he/she posted that query on this site. At $t = 2$, I saw it on this site. I had three options: Add additional details to econschool.in and provide the link here, or answer it here directly, or don't answer. I chose the best alternative according to what I think. $\endgroup$
    – Amit
    May 15, 2017 at 0:31
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    $\begingroup$ @HerrK. Thanks for all the appreciation. $\endgroup$
    – Amit
    May 15, 2017 at 0:52
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    $\begingroup$ @Amit This is what I am asking. Why do you think it is best to answer here and not add the detail to econschool.in? From the question it seems the answer there is not detailed enough for all students. You have already put in the work and created the graphs, why not use them? $\endgroup$
    – Giskard
    May 15, 2017 at 5:05
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    $\begingroup$ @denesp It is because the question was asked here. I will also update it on the site. Thanks. $\endgroup$
    – Amit
    May 15, 2017 at 12:27

2 Answers 2

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I posted a comment first, asking if the OP had tried to understand the answer on his own. If he had, he would hopefully be more specific about where he got stuck. But more than 12 hours went by with no reply from him. I interpreted this lack of response as an indication that the OP had lost interest in getting an answer. So I voted to close.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for answering. I agree with you. $\endgroup$
    – Amit
    May 13, 2017 at 7:20
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"The intention of the poster is to improve his understanding of how the problem is solved"

It does not appear as such. The OP states the problem, then the answer and then asks

"How did we arrive here?"

This does not convey a desire to improve his understanding, because no imperfect or incomplete understanding is conveyed by the OP to begin with. The question "How did we arrive here?" translates "walk me through the whole thing from the beginning to the end".

It is largely unimportant whether the OP just wanted to outsource his homework or not. Let's accept that his only desire was to honestly understand. Still, in this site we can only help those who try first to help themselves, since we are not a school.

Compare with this thread.

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  • $\begingroup$ Fair enough, thanks for sharing your opinion. $\endgroup$
    – Amit
    May 14, 2017 at 2:53
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    $\begingroup$ I am inclined to agree: for homework-type questions - whether they are actually homework or not - we should expect the OP to show some effort or indicate their particular difficulty. We should also encourage such questions to be as general as possible, ie without lots of specific numbers. Perhaps the guidance here (economics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1465/…) should be amended so that arguments over whether or not a question was homework can be avoided. $\endgroup$
    – Adam Bailey
    May 16, 2017 at 17:50

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