 The name of the theory refers to the idea that a turnpike is the fastest route between two points which are far apart, even if it is not the most direct route.Although the idea can be traced back to John von Neumann in 1945, Lionel W. McKenzie traces the term to Robert Dorfman, Paul Samuelson, and Robert Solow's "Linear Programming and Economic Analysis" in 1958, referring to an American English word for a Highway