Economics and Language

Author: [China] Rubinsten (Rubinsten/A.) / Qian Yong / Zhou Yi / Wei Sen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Although this small book is not long, it delves into many deep issues in game theory, general economic theory, linguistics, and cognitive science. It systematically builds economics on the basis of semantic and pragmatic analysis. This book is a collection of two lecture manuscripts: the "Churchill Lectures" delivered by the author at Churchill College, Cambridge in 1996, and the "Schweitzer Lectures" given at Northwestern University in the United States in 1998. The author constructs his economic analysis of language based on the maximization assumption of mainstream and classical game theory, that is, the speaker uses simple words (utterance) to make the receiver (listener) accurately understand the meaning of what is expressed. It systematically builds economics on the basis of semantic and pragmatic analysis, pointing out the main goal of the study of linguistic economics: "it is necessary to explain how the characteristics of natural language are consistent with the optimization of some 'rational' function," or whether the semantic structure of language is governed by optimization selection rules? Rubinsten's specific contribution is to first "linguisticize" game theory, interpreting game behavior as dialogue behavior, thus opening up a new path for linguistic exchange beyond monetary exchange. The author's research, although seemingly naive from a linguistic perspective and not matching his remarkable achievements in game theory, holds significant importance. Because he touched on the frontier of postmodern economics, specifically the unique aspects of information economics that differ from monetary economics, he grasped the theme of "linguistic interaction" beyond material and monetary exchange, thus achieving a shift in discourse. Because the author Rubinsten has always been obsessed with the connection between the normative language of mathematical models and natural language, this small book includes five of his research papers on linguistic economics and the language of economics. In these five papers, Rubinsten discusses the structure of binary relationships imposed on everyday language, the evolution and development of word meaning, pragmatic game theory, the language of economic agents, and the rhetoric of game theory, among other topics. These short essays are filled with challenges to social scientists and help encourage fundamental reflection on the many intrinsic assumptions of economic theory and game theory.