For Immediate Release 17 February 1995
1994 Nobel Laureate in Economics to Lecture at HKUST
Economist John C Harsanyi, who won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics for his ground-breaking work in game theory, will speak on the topic at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on Monday, 20 February 1995.
Game theory has become a useful tool of big corporations and governments for labor negotiations, price wars and political conflict.
Most recently, the US Federal Communications Commission used game theory to maximize its revenue in its auction of the narrowband spectrum for wireless services. All the telecommunications companies vying for FCC licenses hired game theorists to advise on their bids.
Game theorists have Professor Harsanyi and the two economists who shared the 1994 Nobel Prize with him to thank, for making the mathematical model of human decision making in competitive situations a practical tool for real-life competitions and negotiations.
Professor Harsanyi was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1920. He emigrated to Australia in 1950. Six years later he went to the United States and earned his PhD in economics at Stanford University. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1964 to 1990, where he is now professor emeritus.
Professor Harsanyi is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association.
Topic: Economics and Game Theory
When:Monday, 20 February 1995,4:0Op.m. Where: Lecture Theatre A, HKUST
ote to Editors . .