Game theory and cold war rationality : a review essay

E. Roy Weintraub

This essay reviews new histories of the role of game theory and rational decision-making in shaping the social sciences, economics among them, in the post war period. The recent books The World the Game Theorists Made by Paul Erickson and How Reason Almost Lost Its Mind by Paul Erickson, Judy Klein, Lorraine Daston, Rebecca Lemov, Thomas Sturm, and Michael Gordin raise a number of complex historical questions about the interconnections among game theory, utility theory, decision-theory, optimization theory, information theory and theories of rational choice. Moreover the contingencies of time, place, and person call into question the usefulness of economists' linear narratives about the autonomous and progressive development of modern economics. The essay finally reflects on the challenges that these issues present for historians of recent economics.

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Year of publication:	February 20, 2016
Authors:	Weintraub, Eliot Roy
Publisher:	[Durham, NC] : Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University
Subject:	game theory \| rational choice \| Spieltheorie \| Game theory \| Rationalität \| Rationality

Extent:	1 Online-Ressource (circa 32 Seiten)
Series:	CHOPE working paper. - Durham, NC : [Verlag nicht ermittelbar], ZDB-ID 2672713-4. - Vol. no. 2016, 19 (February 2016)
Type of publication:	Book / Working Paper
Type of publication (narrower categories):	Arbeitspapier ; Working Paper ; Graue Literatur ; Non-commercial literature
Language:	English
Other identifiers:	hdl:10419/149746 [Handle]
Classification:	A11 - Role of Economics; Role of Economists; Market for Economists ; A12 - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines ; B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 ; C02 - Mathematical Methods ; C6 - Mathematical Methods and Programming ; C7 - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory ; D01 - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles ; D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
Source:	ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011598915