John Von Neumann's Contribution to Economic Science
2003; Pi Gamma Mu; Volume: 78; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0278-2308
AutoresMaria Joao Cardoso De Pina Cabral,
Tópico(s)Business Strategy and Innovation
ResumoIntroduction 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 primary intellectual influence responsible for emergence of game theory, digital computing, and cellular automata. Despite mathematical nature of his scientific interest, von Neumann also made important contributions to economics. His influence on 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 same since. (1) Richard Stone, another Nobel Laureate in Economics, avers that von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern's Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944) is ... most important textbook since [John Maynard] Keynes' General Theory. (2) E. Roy Weintraub, current President of History of Economics Society, described von Neumann's A of General Economic Equilibrium as ... greatest paper in mathematical economics that was ever written. (3) Richard Goodwin, a specialist in study of economic dynamics, echoed Weintraub's praise for von Neumann's work, characterizing A of General Economic Equilibrium, as ... one of great seminal works of century.... (4) This study seeks to validate such admiration for von Neumann's influence on economic science by analyzing his two major contributions to study of economics, The Expanding Economic Model and Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. John von Neumann: Brilliant Young Mathematician Janos (5) von Neumann was born on December 28, 1903 into a wealthy Jewish banking family (6) in Budapest, Hungary. He benefited from an elitist education in that 'booming' city. (7) At age of ten, he was recognized a child prodigy. (8) By age of seventeen, von Neumann enrolled at University of Budapest to study mathematics. Between 1921 and 1923 he went to Budapest only to take exams while he attended University of Berlin to take courses in physics, including statistical mechanics taught by Albert Einstein. (9) In Berlin, he associated with other distinguished emigres, including Eugene Wigner, Leo Szilard, and Dennis Gabor, all prominent members of Hungarian Phenomenon which later exerted an enormous impact on American physics and mathematics. (10) At same time, von Neumann met mathematician David Hilbert, a major influence on much of his work, at Gottingen. (11) He then attended Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich, where he received a degree in Chemical Engineering in 1925. One year later, von Neumann earned a Ph.D. in mathematics with highest honors from University of Budapest. (12) After teaching mathematics at Princeton University for a semester in 1930, von Neumann moved permanently to United States in 1933. He taught near Princeton, as a Professor of Mathematics at newly formed Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) created by Abraham Flexner alongside such notable scientists and mathematicians as Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Hermann Weyl, and Wigner. (13) Von Neumann proved to be a brilliant young mathematician. Between 1922 and 1927, he produced eighteen major mathematical articles. Much of his early research can best be described as a response to Hilbert's mathematical program. (14) Sometimes called formalist school of mathematics, (15) this approach was concerned with both foundations of mathematics and axiomatization of mathematical physics. attempt to establish various areas of mathematics on a secure axiomatic basis stood at core of Hilbert's program, and von Neumann's projects were included in it. (16) Both men were interested in demonstrating how mathematics could become a widely applicable tool, even in fields that were, until then, not easy to formalize mathematically. …
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