Leonid Hurwicz: Intelligent Designer

How War and the Great Depression Inspired a Nobel Economist

Michael Hurwicz (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

280 Seiten

2023
Academic Studies Press (Verlag)
979-8-88719-134-8 (ISBN)

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In 1938, young Leonid Hurwicz leaves Warsaw seeking safety and an economics degree. These challenging years spawn a lifelong intellectual adventure, a stellar career in economics and a Nobel Prize. This book tells his story.

“A fascinating, exciting story.”
— Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind

While still in his early 20s, and under Hitler's shadow, Leonid “Leo” Hurwicz (1917-2008) left his home in Warsaw, Poland, seeking safety and a degree at the London School of Economics. The following years, while challenging and potentially life-threatening, contained the seeds of a lifelong intellectual adventure. Leo's story is personal (born a refugee, precarious war years for himself and his Polish-Jewish family, a new life in America), global (revolutions, wars, depressions), ideological (socialism, capitalism, economic planning, free markets) and professional (a sixty-year career as a professor of economics leading ultimately to a Nobel Prize). This book tells his story.

Washington state-based writer Michael Hurwicz has long been fascinated by his father's journey as a Polish Jew from 1930s Warsaw to America and ultimately a Nobel Prize in Economics. Michael's book reflects deep archival research as well as conversations with his father, immediate and extended family, friends, students, and colleagues.

Acknowledgements

Prologue

1939, sierpień/août/August

Born a Refugee

Now or Never

Home Safe?

Get an Education!

The Miracle

Hurwicz Home School

Crisis, Coup, Catastrophe

Astrophysics, Chopin and Jazz

Economics and Einstein

Socialist Calculation

Brown Shirts and Ghetto Benches

Graduation Getaway

Math, Models and Mechanisms

Government Intervention

A Lifeline

Hurwiczes on the Run

An Intellectual Warrior at the School for Peace

Leo Hurwicz: “Excess Foreign Population”

Geneva to Chicago by Way of Locarno, Barcelona and Lisbon

Chicago and MIT

Surprise Attack

Honey

A Little Bit Unruly

The Great Book Review

A Slow and Difficult Process

Just a Closer Walk with Stan

Blood, Fire, Smoke, Exile and Human Kindness

Mechanism Design: Development and Recognition

Appendix A. Leo’s Memorial

Appendix B. A Celebration of Leo's 90th Birthday, Held at the Holiday Inn Metrodome, 1500 Washington Avenue South, in Minneapolis on April 14, 2007

Appendix C. The Theory of Economic Behavior, by Leonid Hurwicz

Appendix D. The Hurwicz Criterion

Appendix E. Edited transcript of 2007 interview with Leo, conducted by the author

Appendix F. A Timeline of the Life of Leo Hurwicz

Appendix G. What Is Mechanism Design?

Erscheinungsdatum	22.04.2023
Reihe/Serie	Jews of Poland
Zusatzinfo	Illustrations
Verlagsort	Brighton
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 233 mm
Gewicht	340 g
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft ► Wirtschaft
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre
ISBN-13	979-8-88719-134-8 / 9798887191348
Zustand	Neuware