Economist Paul Milgrom is celebrated for his Nobel Prize-winning work on auction theory and design. But he has published a wide range of other innovative, influential research throughout his career – including a book and articles emerging from his 1991-92 CASBS fellowship. Gani Aldashev (CASBS fellow, 2024-25) engages Milgrom on highlights of this often-collaborative or cross-disciplinary work on organizational behavior, the institutional roots of trust and cooperation, social choice for environmental policy, and more.

PAUL MILGROM: Stanford faculty page | Personal website | Nobel Prize page | Nobel bio | Wikipedia page| CASBS page |

Gani Aldashev: Georgetown faculty page | CASBS page | Google Scholar page |

PAUL MILGROM WORKS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE:

Economics, Organization, and Management (Prentice Hall, 1992), coauthored with John Roberts (CASBS fellow, 1991-92)

"Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization (1991), coauthored with Bengt Holmstrom

"Complementarities and Fit Strategy, Structure, and Organizational Change in Manufacturing," Journal of Accounting and Economics (1995), coauthored with John Roberts

"Complementarities, Momentum, and the Evolution of Modern Manufacturing," The American Economic Review (1991), coauthored with Yingyi Qian, John Roberts

"Complementarities and Systems: Understanding Japanese Economic Organization," Estudios Economicos (1994), coauthored with John Roberts

"The Role of Institutions in the Revival of Trade: The Law Merchant, Private Judges, and the Champagne Fairs," Economics & Politics (1990), coauthored with Douglass North (CASBS fellow, 1987-88) and Barry Weingast (CASBS fellow, 1993-94)

• Learn about the Champagne Fairs on Wikipedia

"Coordination, Commitment and Enforcement: The Case of the Merchant Guild," Journal of Political Economy (1994), coauthored with Avner Greif (CASBS fellow, 1993-94), Barry Weingast

"Is Sympathy an Economic Value? Philosophy, Economics, and the Contingent Valuation Method," in Contingent Valuation: A Critical Assessment, J.A. Hausman, ed. (Elsevier, 1993)

"Kenneth Arrow's Last Theorem," Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design (2024)

Other works referenced in this episode:

Oliver Williamson, The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting (Mcmillan, 1985). Much of this book was written at CASBS during Williamson's 1977-78 CASBS fellowship.

Works emerging from Milgrom's CASBS fellowships

Milgrom's collaborations with, intellectual interactions with, or responses to other Nobel Prize winners in this episode:

• Oliver Williamson (CASBS fellow 1977-78, Nobel Prize 2009)
• Bengt Holmstrom (Nobel Prize 2016)
• Robert Wilson (CASBS fellow 1977-78, Nobel Prize 2020)
• Ronald Coase (CASBS fellow 1958-59, Nobel Prize 1991)
• Douglass North (CASBS fellow 1987-88, Nobel Prize 1993)
• Kenneth Arrow (CASBS fellow 1956-57, Nobel Prize 1972)

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University

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Human Centered
Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel |