Economy and Disability

Society has developed so that it accommodates the needs of intertwined people, but a question arises as to which people have been accommodated. Has everyone been taken care of in an equal manner? If not, who has fallen into the gap between the institutions that are supposed to accommodate them? This book is a study of these issues of economy and disability using game theory, which has provided a means of analyzing various social phenomena. Part I provides actual cases related to economy and disability, with the stories based on interviews by the author. Part II is geared toward a game theoretic analysis. This book explains disability-related issues by game theory and innovates that theory by deeply contemplating the issues.

It is not common that first-rate theorists manage to make their research relevant and applicable to the most pressing problems our society faces these days. This is the remarkable achievement of this book. Akihiko Matsui, an internationally recognized leader in economic theory, succeeds in bringing profound game theoretical insights to the questions of disability, the social norms relating to it, and the ethical and economic problems they raise. The book is a tour de force, brilliantly combining economic and sociology, mathematics and philosophy, to provide us a fresh look at the way we run modern societies.

Itzahk Gilboa, Professor, Eitan Berglas School of Economics, Tel-Aviv University and Professor of Economics and Decision Sciences, HEC, Paris

The present world faces a broad range of societal problems such as discrimination against minorities and conflicts between groups. The market mechanism may solve some of these dilemmas, but many others remain. This book targets various societal problems and provides game theoretical approaches to them, stressing the importance of social institutions including the market system and individual interactive attitudes to society. Aki Matsui’s splendid Economy and Disability is indispensable for students and scholars interested in social science, particularly in economic theory, and gives a better understanding of these phenomena and their potential cures.

Mamoru Kaneko, Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University

In this book, Aki Matsui is revealed to be a fully-fledged humanist in the guise of a game theoretician. He beautifully presents game-theoretical ideas while at the same time suggesting how society should relate to the disabled. This unique combination makes Economy and Disability—apart from anything else—a truly moving book.

Ariel Rubinstein, Professor of Economics, Eitan Berglas School of Economics, Tel-Aviv University and Professor of Economics, New York University