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John Harsanyi

John Harsanyi is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John Harsanyi rather than just read about it. In short: John Charles Harsanyi (Hungarian: Harsányi János Károly; May 29, 1920 – August 9, 2000) was a Hungarian-American economist who spent most of his career at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1994.

John Harsanyi — main illustration
John Harsanyi — illustration

Key takeaways

  • John Harsanyi belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect John Harsanyi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of John Harsanyi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John Charles Harsanyi (Hungarian: Harsányi János Károly; May 29, 1920 – August 9, 2000) was a Hungarian-American economist who spent most of his career at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1994. Harsanyi is best known for his contributions to the study of game theory and its application to economics, specifically for his developing the highly innovative analysis of games of incomplete information, so-called Bayesian games. He also made important contributions to the use of game theory and economic reasoning in political and moral philosophy (specifically utilitarian ethics) as well as contributing to the study of equilibrium selection. For his work, he was a co-recipient along with John Nash and Reinhard Selten of the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He moved to the United States in 1956, and spent most of his life there. According to György Marx, he was one of The Martians.

Early life Harsanyi was born on May 29, 1920, in Budapest, Hungary, the son of Alice Harsányi (née Gombos) and Károly Harsányi, a pharmacy owner. His parents converted from Judaism to Catholicism a year before he was born. He attended high school at the Lutheran Gymnasium in Budapest. In high school, he became one of the best problem solvers of the KöMaL, the Mathematical and Physical Monthly for Secondary Schools. Founded in 1893, this periodical is generally credited with a large share of Hungarian students' success in mathematics. He also won the first prize in the Eötvös mathematics competition for high school students. Although he wanted to study mathematics and philosophy, his father sent him to France in 1939 to enroll in chemical engineering at the University of Lyon. However, because of the start of World War II, Harsanyi returned to Hungary to study pharmacology at the University of Budapest (today: Eötvös Loránd University), earning a diploma in 1944. As a pharmacology student, Harsanyi escaped conscription into the Royal Hungarian Army which, as a person of Jewish descent, would have meant forced labor. However, in 1944 (after the fall of the Horthy regime and the seizure of power by the Arrow Cross Party) his military deferment was cancelled and he was compelled to join a forced labor unit on the Eastern Front. After seven months of forced labor, when the German authorities decided to deport his unit to a concentration camp in Austria, John Harsanyi managed to escape and found sanctuary for the rest of the war in a Jesuit house.

Postwar After the end of the war, Harsanyi returned to the University of Budapest for graduate studies in philosophy and sociology, earning his PhD in both subjects in 1947. Then a devout Catholic, he simultaneously studied theology, also joining lay ranks of the Dominican Order. He later abandoned Catholicism, becoming an atheist for the rest of his life. Harsanyi spent the academic year 1947–1948 on the faculty of the Institute of Sociology of the University of Budapest, where he met Anne Klauber, his future wife. He was forced to resign the faculty because of openly expressing his anti-Marxist opinions, while Anne faced increasing peer pressure to leave him for the same reason. Harsanyi remained in Hungary for the following two years attempting to sell his family's pharmacy without losing it to the authorities. After it became apparent that the communist party would confiscate the pharmacy in 1950, he fled with Anne and her parents by illegally crossing the border into Austria and then going to Australia where Klauber's parents had some friends.

Australia The two did not marry until they arrived in Australia because Klauber's immigration papers would need to be changed to reflect her married name. The two arrived with her parents on December 30, 1950, and they looked to marry immediately. Harsanyi and Klauber were married on January 2, 1951. Neither spoke much English and understood little of what they were told to say to each other. Harsanyi later explained to his new wife that she had promised to cook better food than she usually did. Harsanyi's Hungarian degrees were not recognized in Australia, but they earned him credit at the University of Sydney for a master's degree. Harsanyi worked in a factory during the day and studied economics in the evening at the University of Sydney, finishing with a M.A. in 1953. While studying in Sydney, he started publishing research papers in economic journals, including the Journal of Political Economy and the Review of Economic Studies. The degree allowed him to take a teaching position in 1954 at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. While in Brisbane, Harsanyi's wife became a fashion designer for a small factory.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Harsanyi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Harsanyi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John Harsanyi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John Harsanyi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John Harsanyi

In research
John Harsanyi appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses John Harsanyi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
John Harsanyi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1920 births, 2000 deaths, 20th-century American economists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for John Harsanyi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study John Harsanyi in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what John Harsanyi means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain John Harsanyi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John Harsanyi in simple terms?

John Charles Harsanyi (Hungarian: Harsányi János Károly; May 29, 1920 – August 9, 2000) was a Hungarian-American economist who spent most of his career at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1994.

Why does John Harsanyi matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John Harsanyi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John Harsanyi.

Tags

  • 1920 births
  • 2000 deaths
  • 20th-century American economists
  • 20th-century American philosophers
  • 20th-century Hungarian economists
  • American Nobel laureates
  • American atheists
  • American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
  • Consequentialists
  • Distinguished fellows of the American Economic Association
  • Fasori Gimnázium alumni
  • Fellows of the Econometric Society

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