A mathematician and an economist built an entire theory of rational decision-making

In their 1944 book, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern formalized game theory, showing how rational actors should behave when the best choice depends on what everyone else chooses too. It gave economics a mathematical toolkit for competition and cooperation that later shaped Cold War strategy, auction design, and evolutionary biology.

— John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior — Princeton University Press, 1944
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