John von Neumann's Contribution to Economic Science.
By International Social Science Review
- Release Date: 2003-09-22
- Genre: Social Science
Description
Introduction Often described as a genius, John von Neumann made significant contributions in a wide range of fields. His work in mathematical physics won him praise as the primary intellectual influence responsible for the emergence of game theory, digital computing, and cellular automata. Despite the mathematical nature of his scientific interest, von Neumann also made important contributions to economics. His influence on the study of economics has received universal acclaim from prominent economists. Despite disagreeing with von Neumann on crucial questions, Paul Samuelson, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, observed: "the incomparable Johnny von Neumann. He darted briefly into our domain, and it has never been the same since." (1) Richard Stone, another Nobel Laureate in Economics, avers that von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern's The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944) is " ... the most important textbook since [John Maynard] Keynes' General Theory." (2) E. Roy Weintraub, current President of the History of Economics Society, described von Neumann's "A Model of General Economic Equilibrium" as " ... the greatest paper in mathematical economics that was ever written." (3) Richard Goodwin, a specialist in the study of economic dynamics, echoed Weintraub's praise for von Neumann's work, characterizing "A Model of General Economic Equilibrium," as " ... one of the great seminal works of the century.... " (4) This study seeks to validate such admiration for von Neumann's influence on economic science by analyzing his two major contributions to the study of economics, "The Expanding Economic Model" and The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior.
