The Collected Papers of Leonid Hurwicz Volume 1

Leonid Hurwicz (1917-2008) was a major figure in modern theoretical economics whose contributions over sixty-five years spanned at least five areas: econometrics, nonlinear programming, decision theory, microeconomic theory, and mechanism design. In 2007, at age ninety, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (shared with Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson) for pioneering the field of mechanism design and incentive compatibility.

Hurwicz made seminal contributions in the other areas as well. In non-linear programming, he contributed to the understanding of Lagrange-Kuhn-Tucker problems (along with co-authors Kenneth Arrowand Hirofumi Uzawa). In econometrics, the Hurwicz bias in the least-squares analysis of time series is a fundamental and commonly cited benchmark. In decision theory, the Hurwicz criterion for decision-making under ambiguity is routinely invoked, sometimes without a citation since his original paper was never published. In microeconomic theory, Hurwicz (along with Arrow and H.D. Block) initiated the study of stability of the market mechanism, and (with Uzawa) solved the classic integrability of demand problem, a core result in neoclassical consumer theory.

While some of Hurwicz's work were published in journals, many remain scattered as chapters in books which are difficult to access; yet others were never published at all. The Collected Papers of Leonid Hurwicz is the first volume in a series of four that will bring his oeuvre in one place, to bring to light the totality of his intellectual output, to document his contribution to economics and the extent of his legacy, with the express purpose to make it easily available for future generations of researchers to build upon.

Samiran (Shomu) Banerjee is Teaching Professor in the Department of Economics at Emory University. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota under Leonid Hurwicz and was a faculty at Georgia State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology before moving to Emory. His research
interests are in applied microeconomic theory, mechanism design, industrial organization, and experimental economics.

Preface

PART ONE: BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES
1. Leo Hurwicz: A Biography
2. Leonid Hurwicz: An Appreciation
3. A Twenty-One-Year Collaboration
4. Some Reminiscences of Leo and His Work on Informational Requirements
5. Leonid Hurwicz: A Reminiscence
6. The Hurwicz 1940-41 Year When MIT Launched Its Graduate Degree Rocket

PART TWO: MECHANISMS AND INSTITUTIONS
7. On the Concept and Possibility of Informational Decentralization
8. Centralization and Decentralization in Economic Processes
9. The Design of Mechanisms for Resource Allocation
10. On the Interaction Between Information and Incentives in Organizations
11. Mechanism Design Without Games
12. On Modeling Institutions
13. Toward a Framework for Analyzing Institutions and Institutional Change
14. Economic Design, Adjustment Processes, Mechanisms, and Institutions
15. Institutional Change and the Theory of Mechanism Design
16. Institutions as Families of Game Forms
17. Issues in the Design of Mechanisms and Institutions
18. But Who Will Guard the Guardians?
19. Fundamental Theory of Institutions

PART THREE: OTHER ESSAYS
20. Environmental Issues: Economic Perspectives
21. The Theory of Economic Behavior
22. Book Review: The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior
23. What Has Happened to the Theory of Games
24. Game Theory and Decisions
25. Book Review: The Theory of Value
26. A Voting System Reform Proposal to Provide for Minority Representation
27. Publications of Leonid Hurwicz

Index