Fixing the point: the contribution of early game theory to the tool-box of modern economics

Nicola Giocoli

Journal of Economic Methodology, 2001, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-39

Abstract: The paper aims at reconstructing the sequence of works through which the fixed-point technique entered the tool-box of modern economics and at establishing a link between this sequence and the neoclassical approach to economic modeling. The focus is on the change in the demonstration techniques caused by the spread of the so-called formalist approach to mathematical economics; this change was embodied by the fixed-point technique. The main conclusions of the paper are that the formalist revolution marked a dramatic discontinuity in the history of economic theory and that early game theory - despite having been the gateway through which the fixed-point entered economics - was only partly responsible for such a discontinuity.

Keywords: Fixed-point Theorems; Demonstration Techniques; John Nash; John Von Neumann; Equilibrium Point; History Of Game Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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DOI: 10.1080/1350178032000042040

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