Numbers

Zero-Sum Game

A "zero-sum game" is a situation, dispute, or game in which the any gains by one side mean losses for the other.

How It's Used

“By this standard, social and political relations are more than a zero-sum game wherein one person's gain comes at another's loss. The Golden Rule proposes that, to the contrary, by identifying ourselves with one another, we arrive at moral virtue and mutual betterment.”

"That's the extraordinary and marvelous thing about free trade in a global economy—it's not a zero-sum game. Nations party to free-trade agreements win, and the generated economic gains accrue across all sectors of the participating economies. As President Kennedy aptly observed about expanding economies, 'A rising tide lifts all boats.'"

"Delivering the commencement address at the New Economic School, [President Barack] Obama said the United States does not benefit from a weak Russia. 'The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game—progress must be shared,' he said."

"President Obama opened the first meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue on Monday by declaring that the two countries share a responsibility for the 21st century, and should strive to cooperate not only on economic matters but also on key issues such as climate change, nuclear proliferation and transnational threats.

"'The pursuit of power among nations must no longer be seen as a zero-sum game,' he said at the start of the two-day meeting, held at the Ronald Reagan Building and co-chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. 'Progress—including security—must be shared.'"

"Over the past 50 years, oil importers and exporters have repeatedly sought temporary advantage by treating their mutual relationship as a repeated zero-sum game. Major consuming countries limit access to refining, marketing, and retail fuel outlets and lecture producers on the virtues of free markets when prices remain low. In turn, producers invoke nationalism and curb supply when prices are high (while giving the same lectures on the virtues of free markets). Invariably, however, as the cycle has continued to rage on, the resulting gains for one side of the other have been fleeting."

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