Theory of Games and Economic Behavior: 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition

John von Neumann; Oskar Morgenstern

Published by Princeton University Press 2004

Theory of Games and Economic Behavior

60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition

John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern
With contributions by: Harold William Kuhn
Afterword by: Ariel Rubinstein

In the series Princeton Classic Editions

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400829460

Overview
Contents

About this book

This is the classic work upon which modern-day game theory is based. What began more than sixty years ago as a modest proposal that a mathematician and an economist write a short paper together blossomed, in 1944, when Princeton University Press published Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. In it, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern conceived a groundbreaking mathematical theory of economic and social organization, based on a theory of games of strategy. Not only would this revolutionize economics, but the entirely new field of scientific inquiry it yielded--game theory--has since been widely used to analyze a host of real-world phenomena from arms races to optimal policy choices of presidential candidates, from vaccination policy to major league baseball salary negotiations. And it is today established throughout both the social sciences and a wide range of other sciences.

This sixtieth anniversary edition includes not only the original text but also an introduction by Harold Kuhn, an afterword by Ariel Rubinstein, and reviews and articles on the book that appeared at the time of its original publication in the New York Times, tthe American Economic Review, and a variety of other publications. Together, these writings provide readers a matchless opportunity to more fully appreciate a work whose influence will yet resound for generations to come.

Author / Editor information

John von Neumann (1903-1957) was one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century and a pioneering figure in computer science. A native of Hungary who held professorships in Germany, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in 1933. Later he worked on the Manhattan Project, helped develop the IAS computer, and was a consultant to IBM. An important influence on many fields of mathematics, he is the author of Functional Operators, Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, and Continuous Geometry (all Princeton). Oskar Morgenstern (1902-1977) taught at the University of Vienna and directed the Austrian Institute of Business Cycle Research before settling in the United States in 1938. There he joined the faculty of Princeton University, eventually becoming a professor and from 1948 directing its econometric research program. He advised the United States government on a wide variety of subjects. Though most famous for the book he co-authored with von Neumann, Morgenstern was also widely known for his skepticism about economic measurement, as reflected in one of his many other books, On the Accuracy of Economic Observations (Princeton). Harold Kuhn is Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Economics at Princeton University. Ariel Rubinstein is Professor of Economics at Tel Aviv University and at New York University.

Reviews

While the jury is still out on the success or failure of game theory as an attempted palace coup within the economics community, few would deny that interest in the subject--as measured in numbers of journal page--is at or near an all-time high. For that reason alone, this handsome new edition of von Neumann and Morgenstern's still controversial classic should be welcomed by the entire research community.---James Case, SIAM News

Praise for Princeton's previous edition: "Opinions still vary on the success of the project to put economics on a sound mathematical footing, but game theory was eventually hugely influential, especially on mathematics and the study of automata. Every self-respecting library must have one."---Mike Holderness, New Scientist

Posterity may regard this book as one of the major scientific achievements of the first half of the twentieth century. This will undoubtedly be the case if the authors have succeeded in establishing a new exact science--the science of economics. The foundation which they have laid is extremely promising.

One cannot but admire the audacity of vision, the perseverance in details, and the depth of thought displayed in almost every page of the book. . . . The appearance of a book of [this] calibre . . . is indeed a rare event.

Praise for Princeton's previous edition: "A rich and multifaceted work. . . . [S]ixty years later, the Theory of Games may indeed be viewed as one of the landmarks of twentieth-century social science."---Robert J. Leonard, History of Political Economics

The main achievement of the book lies, more than in its concrete results, in its having introduced into economics the tools of modern logic and in using them with an astounding power of generalization.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction Harold W. Kuhn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
CONTENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xvii
Preface to First Edition. Preface to Second Edition John Von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxvii
Preface to Third Edition John Von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxix
Technical Note Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxxi
Acknowledgment Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxxii
Chapter I. Formulation of the Economic Problem Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter II. General Formal Description of Games of Strategy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
Chapter III. Zero-Sum Two-Person Games: Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Chapter IV. Zero-Sum Two-Person Games: Examples Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Chapter V. Zero-Sum Three-Person Games Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
Chapter VI. Formulation of the General Theory, Zero-Sum n-Person Games Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	238
Chapter VII. Zero-Sum Four-Person Games Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
Chapter VIII. Some Remarks Concerning n≧ 5 Participants Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	330
Chapter IX. Composition and Decomposition of Games Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339
Chapter X. Simple Games Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	420
Chapter XI. General Non-Zero-Sum Games Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	504
Chapter XII. Extension of the Concepts of Domination and Solution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	587
Appendix: The Axiomatic Treatment of Utility Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	617
Afterword Ariel Rubinstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	633
Reviews Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	637
Heads, I Win, and Tails, You Lose Paul Samuelson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	675
Big D Paul Crume Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	678
Mathematics Of Games And Economics E. Rowland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	680
Theory Of Games Claude Chevalley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	683
Mathematical Theory of Poker is Applied to Business Problems Will Lissner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	686
A Theory of Strategy John McDonald Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	692
The Collaboration between Oskar Morgenstern and John von Neumann on the Theory of Games Oskar Morgenstern Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	712
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	727
CREDITS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	741

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