Theory of Games and Economic Behavior.

VON NEUMANN, John and Oskar Morgenstern.

Item Number: 143473

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1944.

First edition of von Neumann and Morgenstern’s landmark work. Octavo, bound in full morocco by the Harcourt bindery, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by the Harcourt Bindery, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. In fine condition.

“One of the major scientific contributions of the 20th century” (Goldstine & Wigner). 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. “Had it merely called to our attention the existence and exact nature of certain fundamental gaps in economic theory, the Theory of Games and Economic Behavior… would have been a book of outstanding importance. But it does more than that. It is essentially constructive: where existing theory is considered to be inadequate, the authors put in its place a highly novel analytical apparatus designed to cope with the problem. It would be doing the authors an injustice to say that theirs is a contribution to economics only. The scope of the book is much broader. The techniques applied by the authors in tackling economic problems are of sufficient generality to be valid in political science, sociology, or even military strategy. The applicability to games proper (chess and poker) is obvious from the title. Moreover, the book is of considerable interest from a purely mathematical point of view… The appearance of a book of the caliber of the Theory of Games is indeed a rare event” (World of Mathematics II:1267-84). However, "it would be doing the authors an injustice to say that theirs is a contribution to economics only. The scope of the book is much broader. The techniques applied by the authors in tackling economic problems are of sufficient generality to be valid in political science, sociology, or even military strategy. The applicability to games proper (chess and poker) is obvious from the title. Moreover, the book is of considerable interest from a purely mathematical point of view..." (Hurwicz in World of Mathematics, vol 2). In the words of two Nobel Prize-winning economists, "a landmark in the history of ideas" and a seminal work in mathematics and economics, which "has had a profound impact on statistics" (Dorfman, Samuelson & Solow, Linear Programming and Economic Analysis pp 417, 445).