[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 14 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO PROFESSOR THOMAS CROMBIE SCHELLING

   Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize Professor Thomas 
Crombie Schelling, distinguished university professor emeritus in the 
Department of Economics and the School of Public Policy at the 
University of Maryland at College Park, recipient of the 2005 Nobel 
Memorial Prize in Economics for his work in game theory analysis. 
Professor Schelling shares this prestigious award with Robert J. Aumann 
of Hebrew University in Jerusalem to whom I also offer my most 
heartfelt congratulations.
  I had the privilege and the pleasure of being one of Professor 
Schelling's students at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard 
University in the early 1970s. Having just graduated from West Point, I 
was pursuing a masters degree in public policy at the Kennedy School. 
The public policy program, then, was a new initiative to train recent 
college graduates for careers in public service. The Kennedy School had 
assembled a stellar collection of scholars in the fields of political 
science, economics, quantitative methods, and statistics. Tom Schelling 
was already recognized as one of the preeminent economists of his 
generation and was a leader in the economics instruction of the public 
policy program.
  Professor Schelling's classes were fascinating discussions about 
topics ranging from social costs and externalities to the incentive 
structures necessary to diminish conflict. Rather than being couched in 
jargon and equations, he was able to talk in familiar terms and used 
familiar examples, such as cows grazing on common areas or an informal 
economy based on the trading of cigarettes in a POW camp. I must 
confess, I was not altogether prepared for his folksy but penetrating 
intellect. But on reflection over many years, I have come to see it as 
one of the most useful and powerful courses that I have ever been 
fortunate to take. I realize that his point was to make us think, not 
just to give us some techniques. His insightful framework of analysis 
has been extremely useful to me in all my endeavors.
  Professor Schelling's professional standing was matched by the 
personal regard that his colleagues and students displayed for him. I 
was fortunate to associate with a gentleman whose integrity and decency 
and kindness left a lasting impression.
  Professor Schelling received the Nobel Prize ``for having enhanced 
our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory 
analysis.'' His first book: ``The Strategy of Conflict,'' published in 
1960, ``set forth his vision of game theory as a unifying framework for 
the social sciences. Professor Schelling showed that a party can 
strengthen its position by overtly worsening its own options, that the 
capability to retaliate can be more useful than the ability to resist 
an attack, and that uncertain retaliation is more credible and more 
efficient than certain retaliation.''
  Professor Schelling's groundbreaking work laid the foundation for 
``new developments in game theory and accelerated its use and 
application throughout the social sciences. Notably, his analysis of 
strategic commitments has explained a wide range of phenomena, from the 
competitive strategies of firms to the delegation of political decision 
power.''
  As a result of Professor Schelling's work, the theoretical realm of 
game theory can now be applied to the real world. This real-world 
application is known as interactive decisionmaking theory and is used 
to explain why some individuals, organizations, and countries succeed 
in promoting cooperation while others suffer from conflict. His 
insights have proven extremely relevant in conflict resolution and 
efforts to avoid war.
  Born on April 14, 1921, in Oakland, CA, Professor Schelling's 
distinguished career spans five decades. After earning a degree in 
economics at the University of California at Berkeley in 1944, 
Professor Schelling worked at the U.S. Bureau of the Budget and served 
in Copenhagen and Paris under the Marshall Plan. He received a Ph.D. in 
economics from Harvard University in 1951 and worked for the Truman 
administration. He later became a professor of economics at Yale 
University, held a position at the RAND Corporation, and, in 1958, 
joined the faculty of Harvard University as a professor of economics. 
In 1969, Professor Schelling also began to teach at Harvard's Kennedy 
School of Government, where he held the chair as the Lucius N. Littauer 
Professor of Political Economy. He left Harvard in 1990 to teach at the 
University of Maryland.
  Professor Schelling has been elected to the National Academy of 
Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences, and was president of the American Economic Association, at 
which he is a distinguished fellow. He was the recipient of the Frank 
E. Seidman Distinguished Award in Political Economy and the National 
Academy of Sciences Award for Behavioral Research Relevant to the 
Prevention of Nuclear War. Professor Schelling has written 10 books and 
published extensively on military strategy and arms control, energy and 
environmental policy, climate change, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, 
organized crime, foreign aid, international trade, conflict and 
bargaining theory, racial segregation and integration, the military 
draft, health policy, tobacco and drug policy, and ethical issues in 
public policy and in business. His range of inquiry and his searching 
mind have covered a vast panorama of the issues of most concern to 
America over the last 50 years.

  Professor Schelling is a member of a generation that has borne 
witness to many extraordinary events; however, in his own words ``the 
most spectacular event of the past half century is one that did not 
occur. We have enjoyed fifty-eight years without any use of nuclear 
weapons.'' His work, and the work of Professor Aumann, has been guided 
by the desire to enhance the understanding of conflict and cooperation 
and deepen the world's understanding of human behavior, relationships, 
and motivation in an effort to prevent the catastrophe of nuclear war.
  Professor Schelling, thank you for all of your contributions to the 
preservation of peace and, again, congratulations on your outstanding 
achievement.
  I yield the floor.

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