On Thursday, October 11, 2012, the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) had a pleasure to host Thomas C. Schelling, a laureate of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Professor Schelling was awarded the prize in 2005 (shared with Robert Aumann) for "having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis".
His visit at the Warsaw School of Economics gathered a huge audience which filled the main auditorium completely. The event started with award ceremony for laureates of the "Master" program of the Foundation for Polish Science.
During his lecture entitled "What is the relation between game theory and social science?" Thomas C . Schelling presented various examples of using the game thory in everyday life and undersored that people do it not even knowing about it. "Imagine you are trying to sell a house. And you may be a skillful negotiator. You are applying a game theory not being aware of it. You are trying to predict how the potential buyer would react and how much is he able to go on bargaining," said professor Schelling.
"The game thory is anticipating what the other side is anticipating what you are trying to anticipate," he said. The discussion that followed concentrated on the questions related to war conflicts. Based on his experience, Thomas C. Schelling explained that one should not only solve conflicts, but rather prevent them, trying to predict the other side's decision.
To all of whom who did not manage to ask questions during Q&A session professor Schelling recommended writing an e-mail (tschelli@umd.edu) and promised to share his latest paper with all interested.
Following the meeting, Thomas C. Schelling wrote in the SGH memory book: "I never expected such a large, enthusiastic audience. It was a stimulating experience".
Photo by Maciej Gorski