Some Applications of Game Theory to Marxian Political Economy

In: Rethinking marxism: RM ; a journal of economics, culture, and society, Band 8, Heft 1, S. 48-62

Abstract

Despite its association with eighteenth-century conceptions of rationality & individualism, game theory provides a tool to analyze strategic individual & collective action. The application of game theory to three issues in Marxian political economy is illustrated: (1) class formation & class action; (2) growth & class struggle; & (3) bargaining problems. Game theory can provide valuable insights for Marxists, but its use is open to several criticisms: (A) Marxian political economy's grounding in a holistic, dialectical, or relational approach; (B) absence of a path from individual level to aggregate decisions; (C) its essentially static nature & incompatiblity with the dynamism of Marxian political economy; & (D) its possession of the weaknesses of the positivist program in the social sciences. 3 Figures, 23 References. D. Generoli