Thomas Crombie Schelling (born 14 April 1921) is an American
economistAn economist is an expert in the social science of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and professor of
foreign affairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
,
national securityNational security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the nation-state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy.Measures taken to ensure national security include:...
,
nuclear strategyNuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons.As a sub-branch of military strategy, nuclear strategy attempts to match nuclear weapons as means to political ends...
, and
arms controlArms control is an umbrella term for restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation, and usage of weapons, especially weapons of mass destruction...
at the
School of Public PolicyThe Maryland School of Public Policy is one of 14 schools at the University of Maryland, College Park and the only policy school in the Washington, D.C.-area affiliated with a major research university.The school is located inside the Capital Beltway...
at
University of Maryland, College ParkThe University of Maryland, College Park is a public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. Founded in 1856, the University of Maryland is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland...
. He is also co-faculty at the
New England Complex Systems InstituteThe New England Complex Systems Institute is an American research institution dedicated to advancing the study of complex systems. It was founded in 1996 and is located in Cambridge, MA.- Overview :...
. He was awarded the 2005
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic SciencesThe Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics , is an award for outstanding contributions to the science of economics and is generally considered one of the most prestigious awards for that science. The official name is the Sveriges Riksbank...
(shared with
Robert AumannRobert John Aumann is an Israeli/American mathematician and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He is a professor at the Center for the Study of Rationality in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel...
) for "having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through
game-theoryGame theory is a branch of applied mathematics that is used in the social sciences, most notably in economics, as well as in biology, engineering, political science, international relations, computer science, and philosophy...
analysis."
Schelling was born to John M. Schelling and Zelda M. Zyres in
Oakland, CaliforniaOakland is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and a major West Coast port city, located on San Francisco Bay about eight miles east of the City of San Francisco. Oakland is a major hub city for the Bay Area subregion collectively called the East Bay, and it is the county seat...
. He received his
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in economics from the
University of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines...
in 1944.
Thomas Crombie Schelling (born 14 April 1921) is an American
economistAn economist is an expert in the social science of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and professor of
foreign affairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
,
national securityNational security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the nation-state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy.Measures taken to ensure national security include:...
,
nuclear strategyNuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons.As a sub-branch of military strategy, nuclear strategy attempts to match nuclear weapons as means to political ends...
, and
arms controlArms control is an umbrella term for restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation, and usage of weapons, especially weapons of mass destruction...
at the
School of Public PolicyThe Maryland School of Public Policy is one of 14 schools at the University of Maryland, College Park and the only policy school in the Washington, D.C.-area affiliated with a major research university.The school is located inside the Capital Beltway...
at
University of Maryland, College ParkThe University of Maryland, College Park is a public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. Founded in 1856, the University of Maryland is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland...
. He is also co-faculty at the
New England Complex Systems InstituteThe New England Complex Systems Institute is an American research institution dedicated to advancing the study of complex systems. It was founded in 1996 and is located in Cambridge, MA.- Overview :...
. He was awarded the 2005
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic SciencesThe Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics , is an award for outstanding contributions to the science of economics and is generally considered one of the most prestigious awards for that science. The official name is the Sveriges Riksbank...
(shared with
Robert AumannRobert John Aumann is an Israeli/American mathematician and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He is a professor at the Center for the Study of Rationality in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel...
) for "having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through
game-theoryGame theory is a branch of applied mathematics that is used in the social sciences, most notably in economics, as well as in biology, engineering, political science, international relations, computer science, and philosophy...
analysis."
Early years
Schelling was born to John M. Schelling and Zelda M. Zyres in
Oakland, CaliforniaOakland is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and a major West Coast port city, located on San Francisco Bay about eight miles east of the City of San Francisco. Oakland is a major hub city for the Bay Area subregion collectively called the East Bay, and it is the county seat...
. He received his
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in economics from the
University of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines...
in 1944. He received his
Ph.D.Ph.D. or PHD may stand for:* Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group* Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip* PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian organization...
in economics from
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
in 1951.
Career
He served with the
Marshall PlanThe Marshall Plan was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the countries of Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II...
in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
, the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the residence of every...
, and the Executive Office of the President from 1948 to 1953. He wrote most of his dissertation on national income behavior working at night while in Europe. He left government to join the economics faculty at
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
, and in 1958 he was appointed Professor of Economics at Harvard. In 1969 he joined the Kennedy School at Harvard University.
Schelling's book,
The Strategy of Conflict (1960), has pioneered the study of bargaining and strategic behavior and is considered one of the hundred books that have been most influential in the West since 1945. In this book he introduced the concept of focal point.
Schelling's economic theories about war were extended in
Arms and Influence (1966).
In 1971, he published a widely cited article dealing with racial dynamics called "Models of Segregation". In this paper he showed that a small preference for one's neighbors to be of the same color could lead to total segregation. He used coins on graph paper to demonstrate his theory by placing pennies and nickels in different patterns on the "board" and then moving them one by one if they were in an "unhappy" situation. The positive feedback cycle of segregation - prejudice - in-group preference can be found in most human populations, with great variation in what are regarded as meaningful differences gender, age, race, ethnicity, language, sexual preference, religion, etc. Once a cycle of separation-prejudice-discrimination-separation has begun, it has a self-sustaining momentum.
Schelling has been involved in the
global warmingGlobal warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C during the last century...
debate since chairing a commission for President Carter in 1980. He believes climate change poses a serious threat to developing nations, but that the threat to the United States has been exaggerated. Drawing on his experience with the post-war
Marshall PlanThe Marshall Plan was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the countries of Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II...
, he has argued that addressing global warming is a bargaining problem: if the world is able to reduce emissions, poor countries will receive most of the benefits but rich countries will bear most of the costs.
Schelling previously taught for twenty years at
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
's
John F. Kennedy School of GovernmentThe John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...
, where he was the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy, as well as conducted research at
IIASAThe International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis is an international non-governmental research organization located in Laxenburg, near Vienna, in Austria. IIASA conducts interdisciplinary scientific studies on environmental, economic, technological and social issues in the context of human...
, in
LaxenburgLaxenburg is a town in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, near Vienna.- History :The place is well-known for its castle, Schloss Laxenburg, which, beside Schönbrunn, was the most important summer seat of the Habsburg dynasty.This castle became a Habsburg possession in...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
between 1994 and 1999.
Schelling was a contributing participant of the
Copenhagen ConsensusCopenhagen Consensus is a project that seeks to establish priorities for advancing global welfare using methodologies based on the theory of welfare economics. It was conceived and organized by Bjørn Lomborg, the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and the then director of the Danish...
.
Personal life
Schelling was married to Corinne Tigay Saposs from 1947 to 1991, with whom he had four sons. His marriage to second wife, Alice M. Coleman occurred later that year.
See also
- Schelling point
- Precommitment
Precommitment is a strategy first discussed by Thomas Schelling that a party to a conflict can strengthen its position by cutting off some of its options to make its threats more credible...
- Internality
An internality is a term used in behavioral economics to describe those types of behaviors that impose costs on a person in the long-run that are not taken into account when making decisions in the present...
- Egonomics
Egonomics is a term used to describe self-management. It was first proposed by Thomas Schelling in his paper Egonomics, or the Art of Self-Management. Schelling suggested that individuals suffer from a sort of split-personality disorder whereby the present self wants a specific thing but the...
- Schelling features in the recent BBC TV series The Trap.
- Vicarious problem solving
Vicarious problem solving is a rational actor approach developed by Thomas Schelling. In economic reasoning it is an educated common sense where one informally models the situation assuming agents ‘operate in a purposeful manner, aware of their values and alert to their opportunities’...
External links