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The economics of John Nash
John Nash, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and the equally prestigious Abel Prize in mathematics, died alongside his wife in a tragic car accident this week. Nash rose to popular fame due to Russell Crowe's portrayal of his life in the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind, but his fame within economics needed no such Hollywood treatment to be assured. Now, Nash's contributions to economics are very small, though enormously influential. He was a pure mathematician who took only one course in economics in his studies; more on this fortuitous course shortly. The contributions are simple to state: Nash ... (full story)