Game Theory:John NASH

When you do something, it includes strategic calculations to calculate how the other person will react.Bringing together social and economic accomplishments is similar to the chess game in which the players determine the strategy according to what the next move will be in another acting.Until the 1940s, the economic discipline had largely ignored this issue.Economists have assumed that every buyer and seller in the market is small compared to the total size of the market, so no one has the choice to pay for a product or salary paid for a product.According to this logic, individual choices have no effect on the others, and as a result they can be safely ignored.In 1838, however, French economist Antoine Augustin Cournot analyzed how much the two firms would produce based on the idea of ​​what the other company would do.But it was an individual case where these strategic interactions were analyzed.

                 In 1944, American mathematicians John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern published revolutionary works called "Theory of Games and Economic Behavior".These mathematicians claimed that many parts of the economic system were governed by a small group of participants, such as large corporations, trade associations or the government.In such a case economic behavior had to be explained on the basis of strategic interactions.They tried to establish general rules about the strategic behavior among people by analyzing simple games of two persons "zero sum" (one person wins and the others loses).It's called game theory.

                 Von Neumann and Morgenstern looked at cooperative games in which players had a number of possible actions, each with its own particular result, or payoff.Players were given the opportunity to assess the situation and agree on an action plan.The real example of such a game was presented by US mathematician Merill Flood,"who allowed his three teenagers to bid for the right for one of them to work a sa babysitter for a maximum payment of $4.They were allowed to discuss the problem and form a coalition, but if they were unable to agree between themselves then the lowest bidder would win. To Flood, there were easy solutions to the problem, such as settling by lot or splitting the proceeds equally. However, his children were unable to find a solution and eventually one of them bid 90 cents to do the work.

Nash Equilibrium

                 At the beginning of the 1950s, John Nash, an American mathematician, examined what happens when players make independent decisions in situations where there is no co-operation, no opportunities for communication or co-operation.It could have been a blissful outcome when collaboration thought that the co-operation of each player would maximize their chances of success.In such games, Nash found an equality situation in which two players did not want to change their behavior.The player chooses the best strategy, thinking that their opponents have chosen the best strategy.In such games, Nash found that no player wanted to change his behavior because "each player's strategy was optimal for the strategy of the next." This was referred to as the Nash equilibrium.

                 After World War II, game theory became very popular and was used especially by RAND (research and development).The task of RAND, founded in 1946 by the USD government, was to use knowledge for national strength.This institution has commissioned mathematicians, economists and other scientists to investigate areas such as game theory, which is thought to be linked to cold war policies in particular.Game theorists who worked in RAND in 1950 developed two examples of non-collaborative games.The first of these is designed to be called "So Long Sucker", which is also psychologically very annoying.This game forces the players to enter the coalition, but as a result you have to deceive your partner to win.According to the reports, the spouses who tried this game were usually returning in separate taxi cabins.

JOHN NASH

Born in 1928 into a middleclass American family, John Nash was labeled as backward at school due to his poor social skills. However, his parents recognized his outstanding academic ability. In 1948, he won a scholarship to Princeton University. His former tutor wrote a one-line letter of recommendation: “This man is a genius.” At Princeton Nash avoided lectures, preferring to develop ideas from scratch. It was there that he developed the ideas on game theory that were to earn him his Nobel Prize. In the 1950s he worked
at the RAND Corporation and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), but by now his mental state was worsening. In 1961, his wife committed him for treatment for his schizophrenia. Nash battled with the condition for the next 25 years but never stopped hoping that he would be able to add something else of value to the study of mathematics.

Read More

GDP Ignores Women

The Gross Domestic Product is the most considered economic statistic.It provides a summary measure of economic activity in a country over a period of one year - it is directly related to key factors such as household incomes or employment rate.However, in despite of renowned in economics discussions,GDP has engrossing problems.

                 At the center of GDP problems and its limits presents, the calculation type and what its comprise.The calculation of GDP is based on the collection of data on economic transactions.The underlying principle is that everything bought and sold within a year must be passed on to the GDP. Government-affiliated economists conduct in-depth research to measure this figure.But everything bought and sold within this nation is not equivalent to all the economic activity that takes place.In the same way, the figure that emerges at the end does not much necessarily mean the things that people value in a country.For example, an environmentalist said that GDP is not a source of natural resources. Assuming that the GDP is sold, it usually takes into consideration for the cutting of trees.But what is consumed is a natural resource that can not be replaced, and the GDP will not register it.In a similar fashion, when an economic activity produces pollution, GDP ignores unwanted side effects such as loss of biodiversity or worsening public health by looking at only the products sold.

Women at Work

                 Marilyn Waring, who was a deputy in Brazil, claimed that in 1988 If Women Counted GDP was systematically lost to women's jobs at a low rate.Most of the jobs, children and elderly care performed in places around the world are mostly part of women.It is clear that this labor is economically necessary, since it contributes to guaranteeing the reproduction of the labor power. However, it is usually not charged and therefore not included in the GDP calculation.

Excluding Women

                 Differences in what is recorded in the calculation of economic production can be quite enjoyable when the work that is essentially the same is handled in a very different way.Cooking, when food is sold, is "economically active." However, it is not "economically active" when it is not sold.The only distinction here is whether a market operation is the subject matter, but the activity is identical.One will exclude women, one will not.In this case, national accounting implicitly implies a tremendous gender prejudice, and in our traditional accounting systems, the true economic value of women's work is systematically underestimated.Waring further argued that the United Nations System of National Accounts (UNSNA), an international standard system used in the calculation of national income, constituted an example of "applied male domination": In other words, is an attempt to exclude women.

Marylin Waring

Country and Birth : New Zealand-1952

Marylin Waring in 1975.

Marilyn Waring is an internationally-renowned feminist, economist and human rights activist.

Aged just 23 when she was elected to Parliament in 1975, she became the youngest MP in the House. She had worked for the National Party research unit and volunteered with the Women’s Electoral Lobby. Asked why she had gone into politics, she recalled:

No one reason. Partly academic interest, I was interested in the selection process and also I thought we’d done enough criticizing about women not being prepared to put forward their names as candidates for political positions. I couldn’t stand back and criticize them for not doing that if I didn’t do anything myself.

Waring’s maiden speech set out some key priorities that continued throughout her nine years in Parliament.

I realise that I am the youngest member of this House and I would not presume to teach any members of this House anything about politics. But members should be well aware that occasions will arise when I feel that further representation should be given to the point of view of the youth and the women of this country who are grossly numerically under-represented in this House. From time to time, when I feel the pressing need to advance the interests of those two groups, I will do so.
As the member for Raglan (later Waipa), Waring felt a strong duty to represent the people of her rural electorate. But as she said in her maiden speech, women and youth were under-represented in the corridors of power. She believed feminists should work within the system to make positive changes for women.

Waring was one of only four female MPs during her first term and half the average age of MPs. She sought to represent the views of women and youth on contentious issues such as abortion, rape and New Zealand’s anti-nuclear stance.

Marilyn Waring declares her office a nuclear free zone, c.1984

Waring’s support for the Labour opposition’s anti-nuclear bill in 1984 demonstrated a commitment to her values and principles. After being blocked from speaking on the nuclear issue, Waring advised the National Party leadership she would cross the floor on the issue. Prime Minister Robert Muldoon responded by calling a snap election which Labour won by a landslide.

Waring retired from politics in 1984, but continued advocating for women’s rights. In August 1984, seething after months of caucus discussion and select committee hearings on rape legislation, Waring penned a column for the Listener entitled ‘What the Law Calls It’. After outlining the current laws concerning and social attitudes about rape in New Zealand, she concluded, ‘Men may not all be rapists at heart, but they must stop their subtle protecting – and perpetuating – if they want women to know this.’

In September 1984, Waring fielded questions from the general public on feminist issues as part of a TVNZ programme, On Line. In the following video Waring answers a question about women in positions of power and reflects on her experiences in Parliament.

After her time in politics, Waring became an academic, gaining a PhD in political economics. Her 1988 book Counting for nothing (sometimes entitled If women counted), analysed economics from a feminist perspective and highlighted the fact that Gross Domestic Product calculations generally exclude the value of women’s unpaid work. This book and her other work on this subject explored the implications of discounting the work of half the world’s population, and informed and changed United Nations policies in this area.

*Biography was citationed.

Read More