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From:
[log in to unmask] (Robert J. Leonard)
Date:
Fri Mar 31 17:19:22 2006
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In answer to John Womack's query, "Weren't Von Neumann and Morgenstern  
"Austrians"?:   
  
Morgenstern was something of a maverick among the Austrians, inclined to  
methodological inquiry of the Austrian variety but also more open to the use  
of mathematics in economics than Mises, Hayek and Co., thanks to the  
influence of Karl Menger and Wald, amongst others.  
  
As for von Neumann, while some have tried to claim him for Classical  
economics, and others for Neoclassical, he certainly wasn't an Austrian.  He  
was sui generis, if you ask me.  
  
Re. Kevin Quinn's point about individualism and norms, it's worth mentioning  
that social norms (independent of individual rationality) were central to  
von Neumann's game theory.  They were what helped distinguish various  
equilibria in his stable set solution.  The "social" played a greater role  
in von N's game theory than I think most people realize.  
  
Robert Leonard  
  
  
 

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