Nobel-prize-winning economist Alvin Roth explores the markets that shape our lives, particularly our work, our health care and our schools. He also explains how key technologies enable companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Google to thrive. His insights extend beyond products, services, and features to include how successful companies attract and hire the most talented employees.

Alvin Roth is a Stanford University Professor, and bestselling author of Who Gets What - and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design. In this episode you will learn:

how one phone call and a pivotal decision ultimately led to a Nobel Prize

the important differences between markets

the role of markets when it comes to marriage, loans, and more

the role of social support in markets

the ways the Internet and mobile technology shape market possibilities

the three key factors that influence the success of companies like Airbnb and Uber

the ways Smartphones are influencing markets

how labor market findings influenced the market designs of today

what game theory can teach us about getting into college and getting a job

how market designers are applying their skills to the growing global refugee crisis

Alvin also shares what got him interested in the economics of market design and the potential this new field holds for helping us rethink what markets are and can do.

Episode Links

Bob Beran

National Resident Matching Program

Operations research

Roth-Peranson Algorithm

Elliott Peranson

United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)

School Choice Programs

Black Market

Repugnant Markets

Lloyd Shapley

David Gale

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences

1962 paper of Lloyd Shapley and David Gale

Stable Matching (or Marriage) Problem (SMP)

Game Theory

Parag A. Pathak

Atila Abdulkadiroglu

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