{"title":"约翰·冯·诺依曼的数学经济学从何而来?","authors":"Juan Carvajalino","doi":"10.1215/00182702-10005718","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n In this article, based on archival material, I show where and how von Neumann's mathematical economics evolved from the realization around 1932 that there existed a formal analogy between economics and games, to the conviction in 1940 that the analogy between homo economicus and homo ludens was more than a formal one. I also show that von Neumann's application of games to economics echoed in nontrivial ways scholarly discussions of a seminar organized in Fuld Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton by von Neumann's historian colleague Edward Mead Earle. In the Earle seminar, an international community of historians and political and social scientists concerned with stability, strategy, and security issues investigated war as a social phenomenon from the perspectives of international relations and military history. In some of their discussions, homo ludens might have appeared as a category that should be taken more seriously in social theory. I argue that the Earle seminar discussions likely helped convince von Neumann in 1940 that the analogy between economics and games that he had found in 1932 was meaningful in a scholarly way to history, political science, and social science. By putting the von Neumann–Earle seminar connection in the backdrop of Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, I briefly bridge some interwar, World War II, and Cold War developments related to von Neumann's influence in economics and social science.","PeriodicalId":47043,"journal":{"name":"History of Political Economy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Where Did John von Neumann's Mathematical Economics Come From?\",\"authors\":\"Juan Carvajalino\",\"doi\":\"10.1215/00182702-10005718\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"\\n In this article, based on archival material, I show where and how von Neumann's mathematical economics evolved from the realization around 1932 that there existed a formal analogy between economics and games, to the conviction in 1940 that the analogy between homo economicus and homo ludens was more than a formal one. I also show that von Neumann's application of games to economics echoed in nontrivial ways scholarly discussions of a seminar organized in Fuld Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton by von Neumann's historian colleague Edward Mead Earle. In the Earle seminar, an international community of historians and political and social scientists concerned with stability, strategy, and security issues investigated war as a social phenomenon from the perspectives of international relations and military history. In some of their discussions, homo ludens might have appeared as a category that should be taken more seriously in social theory. I argue that the Earle seminar discussions likely helped convince von Neumann in 1940 that the analogy between economics and games that he had found in 1932 was meaningful in a scholarly way to history, political science, and social science. By putting the von Neumann–Earle seminar connection in the backdrop of Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, I briefly bridge some interwar, World War II, and Cold War developments related to von Neumann's influence in economics and social science.\",\"PeriodicalId\":47043,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"History of Political Economy\",\"volume\":\" \",\"pages\":\"\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":1.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2022-06-10\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"History of Political Economy\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"98\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-10005718\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"历史学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q3\",\"JCRName\":\"ECONOMICS\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"History of Political Economy","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-10005718","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
Where Did John von Neumann's Mathematical Economics Come From?
In this article, based on archival material, I show where and how von Neumann's mathematical economics evolved from the realization around 1932 that there existed a formal analogy between economics and games, to the conviction in 1940 that the analogy between homo economicus and homo ludens was more than a formal one. I also show that von Neumann's application of games to economics echoed in nontrivial ways scholarly discussions of a seminar organized in Fuld Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton by von Neumann's historian colleague Edward Mead Earle. In the Earle seminar, an international community of historians and political and social scientists concerned with stability, strategy, and security issues investigated war as a social phenomenon from the perspectives of international relations and military history. In some of their discussions, homo ludens might have appeared as a category that should be taken more seriously in social theory. I argue that the Earle seminar discussions likely helped convince von Neumann in 1940 that the analogy between economics and games that he had found in 1932 was meaningful in a scholarly way to history, political science, and social science. By putting the von Neumann–Earle seminar connection in the backdrop of Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, I briefly bridge some interwar, World War II, and Cold War developments related to von Neumann's influence in economics and social science.
期刊介绍:
Focusing on the history of economic thought and analysis, History of Political Economy has made significant contributions to the field and remains its foremost means of communication. In addition to book reviews, each issue contains original research on the development of economic thought, the historical background behind major figures in the history of economics, the interpretation of economic theories, and the methodologies available to historians of economic theory. All subscribers to History of Political Economy receive a hardbound annual supplement as part of their subscription.