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The tl;dr question is this: are economists using coordinate-free formulations in studying theory?

Borrowing from classical mechanics, the framework I have in mind for classical economics--involving maximizing principles--is the following. Let $Q$ be a smooth manifold parametrizing a `state space' of an economic system ($Q$ for Quantities, or stock variables). A utility function $S:Q\to\mathbb{R}$ induces a section $dS$ of $T^*Q$, whose image is a Lagrangian manifold $L$. When we choose coordinates $q^i$ on $Q$, the values of corresponding $p_i = \partial S/\partial q^i$ give the equilibrium or shadow prices. So "phase space" $T^*Q$ encodes both quantities and associate prices, and $L\subset T^*Q$ possible equilibria.

Conversely, let $L\subset T^*Q$ be Lagrangian so $\omega|_L=0$. Since cotangent spaces have a Liouville one-form with $d\theta = \omega$, the Poincaré Lemma implies that $\theta|_L$ is (locally) exact and hence there is a (utility) function $S$ so that $\theta|_L = dS$. Expressing the Liousville form in coordinates $\theta = p_i dq^i$ we recognize it as the key economic concept of income.

This establishes a neat relationship between two economic concepts of equilibrium: no arbitrage (no income on closed paths, $\int_{\partial \Omega} \theta = \int_\Omega d\theta = 0$ implies $\omega=0$) and maximizing utility (prices maximize utility or $\theta = dS$).

Furthermore, we can now apply Hamiltonian dynamics. Let me not go into this here, but just note that I have not encountered this formalism in any of the recent economics literature I have read (textbooks, articles or policy pieces).

I have written this up on SSRN but have not found much interest with economists I have approached. I have found a reference in Jan Tinbergen's PhD thesis (in Dutch). It discusses applications of variational calculus in physics, and economics in the appendix. Written in 1928, both economics and geometry have seen great development since--and I wonder if their paths have crossed more recently.

Update I should have mentioned Thomas Russell, who Carlo cites. His example is of a profit-maximizing firm, I am curious as to the more general case where the objective function is not explicitly known. The area condition for equilibrium he explains, was described by Samuelson in his Nobel lecture and inspired by reading Maxwell's work on thermodynamics!

Although I have labelled this as symplectic geometry, possibly contact geometry is more relevant. If the scale of the objective function is unimportant, and only relative prices matter, then the natural phase space is $\mathbb{P}(T^*Q)$ (as in thermodynamics).

Update 2 The question asks for economists, but Lee Smolin has written in the spirit using gauge theory on arXiv.

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    $\begingroup$ I found this text file containing $185$ occurrences of the string Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems. Hope this helps! $\endgroup$ Commented May 28, 2015 at 8:50

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Symplectic geometry: The natural geometry of economics? (Thomas Russel, 2011).

What restrictions does the hypothesis of maximizing behavior place on observed market data? In the context of profit maximization, one of the conditions put forward by Samuelson is a ratio test for the areas between two restricted input demand functions. Here we place this condition firmly within the context of modern mathematics and will indicate why area geometry, (or in higher dimensions, symplectic geometry) seems to be the natural geometry of maximizing economics.

See also

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    $\begingroup$ Indeed, I have been in touch with professor Russell and should have mentioned him in the question. $\endgroup$ Commented May 28, 2015 at 11:01
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The only mathematician I know who worked on the symplectic basis of economics was Marc Lichnerowicz, I believe the son of the famous Lichnerowicz, see http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:3MDAIg00TrwJ:www.eoht.info/page/Marc%2BLichnerowicz+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us His posthumous paper is here http://archive.numdam.org/ARCHIVE/AIHPB/AIHPB_1970__6_2/AIHPB_1970__6_2_159_0/AIHPB_1970__6_2_159_0.pdf

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  • $\begingroup$ If I remember correctly, an italian economist and mathematician (1940's and 50's), Luigi Amoroso, used classical mechanics to study economics or worked out analogies between these subjects. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 19, 2020 at 12:50
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Okay so here's the thing. Economists love math, but good economists recognize that they are doing a social science. They don't do math for the sake of doing math.

Math is a tool/technology for explaining an economic system. Can we endow an economic system with a geometry (symplectic or otherwise)? Of course we can. But what does it buy us in terms of the social theory? If the answer is "well it's neat", you are going to be hard pressed to find an economist that gets excited for it. Economists have incorporated some aspects of topology and set theory into their economic theory, not because "math is fun", but because they could prove theorems of stability using fixed point theorems.

For a geometric interpretation of economics to be successful, and it could be, it needs to provide tools that prove something about economic theory that is unproven, or that leads to greater insight into human behavior.

Symplectic geometry falls in this grey zone. It has just enough interesting or novel to draw an ambitious young economist in, but (so far) not enough to get economists in general excited about it being incorporated into canonical economic theory. It just doesn't help us understand something new, just the same old stuff at a slightly deeper level.

Now, will someone come along and pick up symplectic geometry and prove something important in economic theory?? Who knows? We had Kakutani's fixed point theorem lying around and economists largely ignored it, preferring Brower's fixed point theorem. The conventional thinking at the time was that economics deals with functions, not correspondences. Kakutani's fixed point theorem was a mathematical toy. And then along came John Nash. He reinterpreted game theory to include mixed strategy solutions as a correspondence for the canonical forms of game theory, and oh hey look, I can prove it is a stable solution using Kakutani's fixed point theorem. Is an important idea in economics waiting to be solved using symplectic geometry or will it remain a toy mathematical structure? I don't know. Maybe the right question hasn't been asked yet.But if someone finds "that question" or "that application", they are virtually guaranteed a nobel prize.

Tl;dr Certainly economists are aware of symplectic geometry, they just haven't figured out why they should use it, yet.

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  • $\begingroup$ The original q was "where can I learn about this" and now is "who wants to hear about it". Notation aside, there is an insight that market activity preserves equilibrium (in the sense of no arbitrage) and this observation puts constraints on the possible dynamics. In particular, dynamics should be described by a "contact Hamiltonian" (or generating function) preserving the essential geometric structure, and so equilibrium. If you're interested you can check overleaf.com/read/ccwjrcsctrht#5d1366, it has my email as well. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 2 at 16:53

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