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Game Theory and Cold War Rationality: A Review Essay

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  • E. Roy Weintraub

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • E. Roy Weintraub, 2016. "Game Theory and Cold War Rationality: A Review Essay," Center for the History of Political Economy Working Paper Series 2016-19, Center for the History of Political Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:hec:heccee:2016-19
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    File URL: http://hope.econ.duke.edu/node/1254
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    Keywords

    game theory; rational choice;

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • B2 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925
    • C02 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - General - - - Mathematical Economics
    • C6 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling
    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making

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