scholarly journals Introducing formalism in economics: The growth model of John von Neumann

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandye Gloria-Palermo
Keyword(s):  
Growth Model ◽  
John Von Neumann ◽  
Von Neumann ◽  
David Hilbert ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Pragmatic Turn ◽  
The Impact

The objective is to interpret John von Neumann's growth model as a decisive step of the forthcoming formalist revolution of the 1950s in economics. This model gave rise to an impressive variety of comments about its classical or neoclassical underpinnings. We go beyond this traditional criterion and interpret rather this model as the manifestation of von Neumann's involvement in the formalist programme of mathematician David Hilbert. We discuss the impact of Kurt G?del's discoveries on this programme. We show that the growth model reflects the pragmatic turn of the formalist programme after G?del and proposes the extension of modern axiomatisation to economics.

scholarly journals Turing's Influence on Programming

10.29007/n93n ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar G. Daylight
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Central Question ◽  
John Von Neumann ◽  
Von Neumann ◽  
Central Thesis ◽  
Historical Investigation ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Martin Davis ◽  
Turing Award

Turing's involvement with computer building was popularized in the 1970s and later. Most notable are the books by Brian Randell (1973), Andrew Hodges (1983), and Martin Davis (2000). A central question is whether John von Neumann was influenced by Turing's 1936 paper when he helped build the EDVAC machine, even though he never cited Turing's work. This question remains unsettled up till this day. As remarked by Charles Petzold, one standard history barely mentions Turing, while the other, written by a logician, makes Turing a key player.Contrast these observations then with the fact that Turing's 1936 paper was cited and heavily discussed in 1959 among computer programmers. In 1966, the first Turing award was given to a programmer, not a computer builder, as were several subsequent Turing awards. An historical investigation of Turing's influence on computing, presented here, shows that Turing's 1936 notion of universality became increasingly relevant among programmers during the 1950s. The central thesis of this paper states that Turing's influence was felt more in programming after his death than in computer building during the 1940s.

The Universal Constructor

2010 ◽  
pp. 362-378
Author(s):  
Eleonora Bilotta ◽  
Pietro Pantano
Keyword(s):  
John Von Neumann ◽  
Von Neumann ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Biological Organisms

At the beginning of the 1950s, John von Neumann (1966) asked himself whether it is possible to design a machine with the ability to create exact copies of itself which would themselves have the ability to produce new copies. Such a machine would have reproductive capabilities comparable to those we find in biological organisms. In this setting, von Neumann’s goal was to design a Universal.Constructor capable of reading the instructions for, and assembling, any machine the designer might seek to build. If the instructions specified a Universal Constructor, the machine would have the ability to build a copy of itself. In other words, it would be able to reproduce. If we wanted the copies of the machine to share this ability, all we would have to do would be to copy the instructions and incorporate them in the new machines.

scholarly journals L’appareil analytique et ses modèles

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvon Gauthier
Keyword(s):  
Charles Sanders Peirce ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
Rudolf Carnap ◽  
Ian Hacking ◽  
John Von Neumann ◽  
Von Neumann ◽  
David Hilbert ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
Sciences Sociales

Cet article propose une notion constructiviste de modèle dans la théorie physique applicable à la théorie scientifique en général, c’est-à-dire aussi bien dans les sciences exactes que dans les sciences sociales et humaines. La distinction entre appareil analytique et appareil expérimental par la médiation des modèles permet en effet de généraliser une notion qui est d’abord apparue dans les fondements de la physique chez David Hilbert et John von Neumann. Si l’on consent à inverser les flèches ou homomorphismes qui vont de l’appareil analytique, ensemble des structures logicomathématiques, à l’appareil expérimental, ensemble des données empiriques et des procédures expérimentales, on peut remonter par la modélisation des données jusqu’à l’appareil analytique qui assure la consistance ou cohérence logique de la théorie scientifique, qu’elle relève des sciences exactes ou des sciences sociales. Une telle articulation des savoirs peut apparaître formelle, mais elle a l’avantage de rassembler les entreprises scientifiques dans un schème unificateur qui jette une lumière nouvelle sur le débat majeur en philosophie des sciences contemporaine, la confrontation du réalisme et de l’antiréalisme, qui a des répercussions tant en philosophie de la physique qu’en philosophie du langage et en philosophie de la logique, ou encore en philosophie des sciences sociales, si l’on en croit Jürgen Habermas ou les tenants du contructionnisme appelé jadis constructivisme social ou socioconstructivisme. L’article conclut sur la distinction qu’il faut opérer entre le constructivisme logicomathématique et le contructionnisme, comme le dénomme Ian Hacking, pour bien marquer la distance qui sépare les postures fondationnelles ou les options philosophiques dans ce qu’il faut bien appeler « logique de la science », selon l’expression du grand philosophe pragmatiste Charles Sanders Peirce reprise par des empiristes logiques comme Rudolf Carnap.

scholarly journals Vállalatok egy Neumann-típusú gazdaságban (Firms in a Neumann’s model economy)

2010 ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Imre Dobos
Keyword(s):  
Growth Model ◽  
John Von Neumann ◽  
Von Neumann ◽  
Equilibrium Prices ◽  
Total Profit

A dolgozat a klasszikusnak tekinthető Neumann-féle növekedési modell egy új alapra helyezését tartalmazza. Az eredeti Neumann-modellben expliciten vállalatok nem szerepelnek, csak technológiák vagy eljárások. A dolgozat egy olyan Neumann-típusú modellt vizsgál, amelyben az egyes technológiáknak vállalatokat feleltet meg, és azt vizsgálja, hogy ilyen feltételezés mellett egy ilyen gazdaságban léteznek-e olyan megoldások, amelyek mellett a vállalatok maximalizálják a nyereségüket. Ennek vizsgálata közben arra az eredményre juthatunk, hogy erre az esetre a klasszikus Neumann-modell által feltételezett nempozitív nyereséget felül kell vizsgálni, ami a klasszikus matematikai közgazdaságtan dualitáson alapuló alapfeltételezése. ______ The paper investigates a generalization of the classical growth model of John von Neumann. There are only technologies in model of von Neumann. The aim of the paper is to rename technologies as firms and it is analyzed whether there exist equilibrium prices and quantities for firms to maximize the total profit. The paper reexamines the classical assumption about the duality of prices, i.e. it is allowed a nonnegative profit of firms.

John von Neumann

2004 ◽  
Vol 174 (12) ◽  
pp. 1371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail I. Monastyrskii
Keyword(s):  
John Von Neumann ◽  
Von Neumann

R&D Heterogeneity and the Impact of R&D Subsidies*

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigurd M⊘lster Galaasen ◽  
Alfonso Irarrazabal
Keyword(s):  
Economic Impact ◽  
Growth Model ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Schumpeterian Growth ◽  
Size Dependent ◽  
Investment Growth ◽  
The Impact ◽  
D Investment ◽  
Model Fits

Abstract This paper studies the determinants of R&D heterogeneity and the economic impact of R&D subsidies. We estimate a Schumpeterian growth model featuring firms with heterogeneous innovation efficiencies. The model fits well the R&D investment distribution, and the frequency and relative size of R&D performers. Using the model we study the impact of a Norwegian R&D reform targeting firms with R&D spending below a certain threshold. The size-dependent subsidy increases aggregate R&D investment by 11.7%, but reduces growth and welfare. In contrast, a uniform subsidy stimulates investment, growth and welfare.

John von Neumann and the Evolutionary Growth of Complexity: Looking Backward, Looking Forward

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry McMullin
Keyword(s):  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Early Death ◽  
Problem Situation ◽  
John Von Neumann ◽  
Von Neumann ◽  
Comprehensive Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Evolutionary Growth

In the late 1940s John von Neumann began to work on what he intended as a comprehensive “theory of [complex] automata.” He started to develop a book length manuscript on the subject in 1952. However, he put it aside in 1953, apparently due to pressure of other work. Due to his tragically early death in 1957, he was never to return to it. The draft manuscript was eventually edited, and combined for publication with some related lecture transcripts, by Burks in 1966. It is clear from the time and effort that von Neumann invested in it that he considered this to be a very significant and substantial piece of work. However, subsequent commentators (beginning even with Burks) have found it surprisingly difficult to articulate this substance. Indeed, it has since been suggested that von Neumann's results in this area either are trivial, or, at the very least, could have been achieved by much simpler means. It is an enigma. In this paper I review the history of this debate (briefly) and then present my own attempt at resolving the issue by focusing on an analysis of von Neumann's problem situation. I claim that this reveals the true depth of von Neumann's achievement and influence on the subsequent development of this field, and further that it generates a whole family of new consequent problems, which can still serve to inform—if not actually define—the field of artificial life for many years to come.

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