It is summarized here:
I had the good fortune to grow up in a wonderful area of Jerusalem, surrounded by a diverse range of people: Rabbi Meizel, the communist Sala Marcel, my widowed Aunt Hannah, and the intellectual Yaacovson. As far as I’m concerned, the opinion of such people is just as authoritative for making social and economic decisions as the opinion of an expert using a model.
Part memoir, part crash-course in economic theory, this deeply engaging book by one of the world’s foremost economists looks at economic ideas through a personal lens. Together with an introduction to some of the central concepts in modern economic thought, Ariel Rubinstein offers some powerful and entertaining reflections on his childhood, family and career. In doing so, he challenges many of the central tenets of game theory, and sheds light on the role economics can play in society at large.
Economic Fables is as thought-provoking for seasoned economists as it is enlightening for newcomers to the field.
The book can be read freely here. Rubinstein’s home page is here.
Have not read the book yet, but it seems to be creating quite a stir among game theorists who think that Rubinstein’s stance as the game theorist who criticizes game theory is inappropriate (but then, who else can do it properly?).
I did check out his website and his advice to grad students. Much of it is iconoclastically witty, but some of it also insufferably and egotistically useless or nearly so. So, if you are lacking inspiration, join the Israeli military reserve (that will be very useful for Arab Muslim grad students for sure). Never wear a tie or jacket to lecture in or to give a job interview. Well, that is nice in Israel where as in physics everybody downdresses. You would look like an idiot if you gave a lecture in a jacket and tie. But when it comes to the job market, well, he then admits that he never was on the conventional job market, so what does he know? What he knows is how he got a job. One of his profs had a social/rellgious gathering where Franklin Fisher from MIT was invited and ended up having a private conversation with Rubinstein who proceeded to tell him about his latest papers, with Fisher than saying “Well, at MIT we lecture in English… ” Very useful advice for your typical grad student for sure.
No one gives half a shit what you think, Bark-boy. Go renew the prescription for your meds.
Tell me about Girsanov’s Theorem, bitch! You don’t know shit about mathematics, asshole.
Sure, “Malcolm.” Last time I checked you were not among the popularizers who actually give credit to those whose work form the foundation of what you make your money on. Among academics, Krugman pulls the same stunt, making money off the uncited and undeservedly unNobeled, one of whom in your case is the major prof of the master of this blog who also happens to be a friend of mine, a man Paul Samuelson described as the “most intelligent person I have ever met.” Yes, you are very admirable, “Malcolm.”
As for G’s theorem it depends on an underlying continuity assumption. Of course you are well acquainted with my From Catastrophe to Chaos: A General Theory of Economic Discontinuities, so you of all people should well understand, “Malcolm,” that I do not think Girasov’s Theorem is of any importance or relevance to any serious economic analysis whatsoever.
I apologize for bad sentence structure in my last post. No, Tyler’s major prof is not among the “unNobeled.”
Dynamical systems, Bark-boy? So 1992. Yawn.
Your comment about Girsanov’s Theorem proves my point: you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Now get back on your meds.
This IMG,B seems to have come out of nowhere. Don’t know where the hostility came from. Though googling I find that he has commented here before. And it was just as inexplicable last year.
There is no eBook available under your link, let alone a free one…
There’s an online reader that works but the author should have published in PDF and just let us download the book.
I like the mix of memoir and intro to formal modeling. If there’s one thing I learned from what I’ve read so far of his book, it’s this: I certainly do not think like a formal theorist.
Rubinstein is hilarious. The tone of the book somehow reminds me of Jerzy Kosinski.
His freely available notes on microeconomic theory are also very illuminating.
http://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/Rubinstein2007.pdf
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