P R E S S   R E L E A S E

        Professor Ambrose Y C King, Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong greeted Professor Sir James A Mirrlees, Nobel Laureate in Economics 1996, and Professor Reinhard Selten, Nobel Laureate in Economics 1994 at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.  The visit of these two world-class economists proved the effort of the Chinese University, as a comprehensive research university with a global vision, to strengthen the relation between Hong Kong and the international scholarly community and to make further contribution to Hong Kong and the entire region.

        Professor Mirrlees has recently accepted the appointment as Distinguished Professor-at-Large at the University, effective from 1 August 2002. He will stay at the Chinese University for 4 months each year to do teaching and research, as well as provide leadership for academic advancement.

        Professor Mirrlees has extensive knowledge and profound influence on developing economies.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his "fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information".  He is also well-known for his theory of optimal income taxes which solves the problem of how to design a tax system that balances efficiency and equity.

        Professor Reinhard Selten is currently Professor Emeritus of Economics of University of Bonn, Germany.  He is visiting the Chinese University in the capacity of Wei Lun Visiting Professor and will give a public lecture on "Game Theory" on Tuesday, 15 October 2002 at 4:30 pm in Lecture Theatre 1, Esther Lee Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

        In the late 1940s, Professor Selten started his research in game theory.  In 1965, he published important work on distinguishing between reasonable and unreasonable decisions in predicting the outcome of games.  For his work in game theory, Professor Selten was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences together with Professor John C Harsanyi and Professor John F Nash, "for their pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games".