Reinhard Selten Labs, Bounded Rationality and China
Oct. 5th is Doktorvater’s 80th birthday. As one of his disciples, the best way to congratulate is a paper. As a scholar, he has won world-wide respect by his pioneering work in game theory, experimental economics and bounded rationality. His articles on e
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Reinhard Selten Labs, Bounded Rationality and China Fang-Fang Tang
Oct. 5th is Doktorvater’s 80th birthday. As one of his disciples, the best way to congratulate is a paper. As a scholar, he has won world-wide respect by his pioneering work in game theory, experimental economics and bounded rationality. His articles on evolutionary biology, psychology and political science have been widely cited. The esteem of his peers is vividly reflected in a well-circulated article recently. Professor Vernon Smith (2005) said that Professor Selten should be awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for the second time. Therefore I decided, after e-mail communications with Professor Karim Sadrieh, to write an article from another perspective, in a more personal way. I will write about what I know about Professor Selten, and his influence on me, and his academic impact in a fast-developing country, my home country, China.
Two Decades Ago Going through the old documents, I feel sentimental that it is such a “survey” of my past 20 years’ life with Professor Selten. His influence on me is fundamental, if I am allowed to say so. Almost all my progress made in experimental economic research in China is related to Professor Selten’. Story with Professor Selten starting from a letter by late Professor John C. Harsanyi on June 10, 1991 (see, also, Tang 2002): “Dear Fang-Fang, thanks for your letter of May 24. . . . Another possibility for you would be to write to my German friend, Professor Reinhard Selten. . . . Unfortunately, Prof. Selten had a mild heart attack last February, but now he feels much better. I talked to him yesterday to inquire about his health. I also mentioned your name, telling him that you would like to be admitted to a good Ph.D. Program. F.-F. Tang (*) Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, and National School of Development at Peking University, Beijing, China e-mail: [email protected] A. Ockenfels and A. Sadrieh (eds.), The Selten School of Behavioral Economics, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-13983-3_5, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
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He said that he may be willing to admit you as his Ph.D. student. If he does, you will find that he is a first-rate teacher.” Yes indeed, our Master is. I have learnt a lot from him since then, not only in game theory and experimental economics, but also about life, for which I will expand more later. More than that, he was willing to take me to study under his guidance, without knowing anything about me at that moment – certainly not having seen me at all. That is, one has to say, risky. In this sense, he acted more like an academic “venture capitalist”, and if I may say this myself, not unsuccessfully. In every sense, I have been deeply touched and grateful. I wrote to Professor Selten about my work in fuzzy preferences and social choice. He replied promptly about his view on July 25, 1991. The letter has such a profound influence on me that I think that it is appropriate to cite it full: Dear Mr. Fang-Fang Tang, Your interes
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