ZERO-SUM GAME

A situation in the game theory when the gains made by winners in an economic transaction is equal to the losses suffered by the losers. This is considered a special case in game theory. Most economic transactions are in some sense positive-sum games. But in popular discussion of economic issues, there are often examples of mistaken zero-sum mentality, such as profit comes at the expense of wages, ‘higher productivity means fewer jobs’, and ‘imports mean fewer jobs here.’