ABSTRACT
The publication in 1944 of Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (TGEB) by Von Neumann and Morgenstern is generally regarded as the starting point of game theory. But what theory does this refer to? According to a first precise, but restrictive meaning, it is a mathematical theory whose base is made up of games known as zero-sum games. The theory can also be understood in a wider, albeit rather vague, sense. Its most extreme expression is provided by Aumann: “Game theory is a sort of umbrella or ‘unified field’ theory for the rational side of social science, where ‘social’ is interpreted broadly, to include human as well as non-human players (computers, animals, plants)” (Aumann 1987b: 2).
