Jump to content

Oskar Morgenstern

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oskar Morgenstern
Born(1902-01-24)January 24, 1902
Görlitz, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
DiedJuly 26, 1977(1977-07-26) (aged 75)
Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Vienna
Academic career
FieldEconomics
InstitutionPrinceton University
New York University
Mathematica Policy Research
School or
tradition		Austrian School
Doctoral
advisor		Ludwig von Mises
Doctoral
students		Martin Shubik
Lionel W. McKenzie
InfluencesOthmar Spann
Carl Menger
ContributionsGame theory, mathematical economics

Oskar Morgenstern (German: [ˈmɔʁɡn̩ʃtɛʁn]; January 24, 1902 – July 26, 1977) was a German-born economist. In collaboration with mathematician John von Neumann, he is credited with founding the field of game theory and its application to social sciences and strategic decision-making. He also made significant contributions to decision theory (see von Neumann–Morgenstern utility theorem).[1][2][3][4]

He served as a consultant or co-founder for companies including the Market Research Corporation of America and the original Mathematica Inc.

Biography

[edit]

Morgenstern was born in Görlitz in the Prussian Province of Silesia. His mother was rumored to be a daughter of Emperor Frederick III.[5][6][7][8][9]

Morgenstern grew up in Vienna, Austria, where he attended university. In 1925, he graduated from the University of Vienna with a PhD in political science. From 1925 to 1928, he undertook a three-year fellowship financed by the Rockefeller Foundation. After his return in 1928, he became a professor of economics at the University of Vienna, a position he held until he visited Princeton University in 1938. In 1935, Morgenstern published the article Perfect Foresight and Economic Equilibrium, after which his colleague Eduard Čech directed him to an article by John von Neumann, Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele (1928). He also worked as an outside expert for the Economic and Financial Organization, along with Bertil Ohlin and Jacques Rueff, supporting the EFO's work on economic depressions in the late 1930s.[10]: 29 

During Morgenstern's visit to Princeton University, Adolf Hitler took over Vienna during the Anschluss, and Morgenstern chose to remain in the United States. He became a faculty member at Princeton but gravitated toward the Institute for Advanced Study where he met von Neumann. Together, they collaborated on writing Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, published in 1944. The work is recognized as the first book on game theory, a mathematical framework for studying strategic structures governing rational decision-making in economic, political, and military situations. In 2013, the University of Vienna relocated the Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics and named the square Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz in his honor.

The collaboration between Morgenstern and von Neumann led to new areas of investigation in both mathematics and economics, attracting widespread academic and practical interest. In 1944, Morgenstern became a United States citizen, and four years later he married Dorothy Young, with whom he had two children, Carl and Karin. In 1950, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.[11] Morgenstern remained at Princeton as a professor of economics until his retirement in 1970, after which he joined the faculty of New York University. Morgenstern authored numerous articles and books, including On the Accuracy of Economic Observations and Predictability of Stock Market Prices with subsequent Nobel laureate Clive Granger.

Morgenstern died in Princeton, New Jersey in 1977. His archive of published and unpublished works is held at Duke University.[12]

In November 2012, a square in Alsergrund, Vienna, was named "Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz"; it is the location of the Faculties of Economics and Mathematics of the University of Vienna.

Mathematica

[edit]

In 1958-59[13][14], Oskar Morgenstern and several Princeton University colleagues started a "small research organization" known as Mathematica Inc.

He was involved as a founder or co-founder in the following companies:[15]:

  • Industrial Surveys Company (later Market Research Corporation of America)
  • Mathematica Inc., and its successor Mathematica Policy Research (MPR)

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Morgenstern, Oskar (1966) [1950]. On the accuracy of economic observations (2nd rev. ed.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • von Neumann, John; Morgenstern, Oskar (1955) [1944]. Theory of games and economic behaviour (3rd ed.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Kemeny, John G.; Morgenstern, Oskar; Thompson, Gerald L. (1956). "A generalization of the von Neumann model of an expanding economy". Econometrica. 24 (2): 115–135. doi:10.2307/1905746. JSTOR 1905746. MR 0080573.
  • Morgenstern, Oskar (1972). "Thirteen Critical Points in Contemporary Economic Theory: An Interpretation," Journal of Economic Literature 10, no. 4 (December):: 1184
– reprinted in Selected Economic Writings by Oskar Morgenstern, Andrew Schotter, ed. (New York: New York University Press, 1976), p. 288.
  • Morgenstern, Oskar (1959). While the Atomic Clock Ticks On – The Question Of National Defense.[16]
  • Morgenstern, Oskar; Granger, Clive W. J. (1970). Predictability of stock market prices. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books (D.C. Heath and Company).
  • Morgenstern, Oskar; Thompson, Gerald L. (1976). Mathematical theory of expanding and contracting economies. Lexington Books. Lexington, Massachusetts: D. C. Heath and Company. pp. xviii, 277.
  • Morgenstern, Oskar (1976). "The collaboration between Oskar Morgenstern and John von Neumann on the Theory of Games". Journal of Economic Literature 14, No. 3 (Sep., 1976), pp. 805–816
– reprinted in Theory of games and economic behaviour — Sixtieth anniversary edition. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, p. 712. ISBN 0-691-13061-2.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Schotter, Andrew (1992). "Oskar Morgenstern's Contribution to the Development of the Theory of Games". In Weintraub, E. Roy (ed.). Toward a History of Game Theory. Durham: Duke University Press. pp. 95–112. ISBN 0-8223-1253-0.
  2. ^ Leonard, Robert (2010). Von Neumann, Morgenstern and the Creation of Game Theory. New York: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511778278. ISBN 978-0-521-56266-9.
  3. ^ Kuhn, H.W.; Tucker, A.W. (1958). "John von Neumann's work in the theory of games and mathematical economics". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 64 (Part 2) (3): 100–122. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.320.2987. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1958-10209-8. MR 0096572.
  4. ^ von Neumann, J (1928). "Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele". Mathematische Annalen (in German). 100: 295–320. doi:10.1007/bf01448847. S2CID 122961988.
  5. ^ Weintraub, E. Roy; Forget, Evelyn L. Economists' lives: biography and autobiography in the history of economics p. 234, Duke University Press Books (December 6, 2007)
  6. ^ The New York Times biographical service, vol. 8, p. 276, New York Times & Arno Press, 1977
  7. ^ Niehans, Jürg. A history of economic theory: classic contributions, 1720–1980, p. 394, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990
  8. ^ Bewersdorff, Jörg. Luck, logic, and white lies: the mathematics of games, p. 368, A.K Peters/CRC Press (November 23, 2004)
  9. ^ Fleck, Christian (2007). Transatlantische Bereicherungen: zur Erfindung der empirischen Sozialforschung. Berlin: Suhrkamp
  10. ^ Louis W. Pauly (December 1996), "The League of Nations and the Foreshadowing of the International Monetary Fund", Essays in International Finance, 201, Princeton University, SSRN 2173443
  11. ^ View/Search Fellows of the ASA, accessed 2016-07-23.
  12. ^ "Oskar Morgenstern Archive". Duke University Library. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  13. ^ 1983 article, "25 years ago" would be 1958
  14. ^ Karen W. Arenson (February 22, 1983). "Mathematica's Shift Into Software Field". The New York Times.
  15. ^ "Samuel D. Barton, 68, A Marketing Specialist". The New York Times. January 29, 1982.
  16. ^ S.L.A. Marshall (November 22, 1959). "While the Atomic Clock Ticks On – The Question Of National Defense". The New York Times. 306 pp. New York: Random House. "In this book, Oskar Morgenstern, the Princeton economist, takes a look at the prospects for American survival and what we are doing to improve them. What he finds should make the angels weep."

Sources

[edit]
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Oskar Morgenstern.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oskar_Morgenstern&oldid=1283752763"