Market Design and Computerized Marketplaces

Markets and marketplaces are ancient human artifacts, but in recent years they have become ever more important. In part this is because marketplaces are becoming computerized. Together with the introduction of smart phones, this also makes them ubiquitous. We can order car rides to the airport, plane rides to London, and hotel rooms for when we arrive, all on our smartphones. And as we do so we leave a data trail that is easily combined with other streams of data. This is changing not only how we interact with markets, but also how we manage and regard privacy. I’ll discuss some recent developments in computerized markets and speculate about some still to come.

I am the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard.

I work in the areas of game theory, experimental economics and market design, and shared the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.