Theory of Games and Economic Behavior

John von Neumann (1903-1957) was a pioneering figure in computer science and one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century. He was born in Hungary and had previously held professorships in Germany before being appointed Professor of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in 1933.

Before moving to the United States in 1938, Oskar Morgenstern (1902-1977) taught at the University of Vienna and directed the Austrian Institute of Business Cycle Research. He joined the faculty of Princeton University, eventually becoming a professor and directing its econometric research program beginning in 1948. He provided advice to the US government on a wide range of issues.

Harold Kuhn is a Princeton University Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Economics. Ariel Rubinstein is an economist who teaches at both Tel Aviv University and New York University.

This is the foundational work on which modern game theory is built. What began more than sixty years ago as a modest proposal that a mathematician and an economist collaborate on a short paper blossomed in 1944, with the publication of Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by Princeton University Press. In it, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern proposed a groundbreaking mathematical theory of economic and social organization based on a strategy game theory. Not only would this revolutionize economics, but the entirely new field of scientific inquiry it produced—game theory—has since been widely used to analyze a variety of real-world phenomena ranging from arms races to optimal presidential candidate policy choices, from vaccination policy to major league baseball salary negotiations. And it is now widely accepted in the social sciences as well as a wide range of other sciences.

This sixtieth-anniversary edition includes not only the original text but also an introduction by Harold Kuhn, an afterword by Ariel Rubinstein, and reviews and articles on the book that appeared in the New York Times, the American Economic Review, and a variety of other publications at the time of its original publication. Together, these writings offer readers an unparalleled opportunity to fully appreciate a work whose impact will be felt for generations to come.

Author: John von Neumann, Oskar Morgenstern, Harold Kuhn, and Ariel Rubinstein

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