Matching for zoo keepers

Calling a matchmaking site a studbook might be too blunt for most dating sites. But zookeepers need a thick market to find the right matches: see the NY Times on Seeking Mates for Furred and Clawed . (NB to matchmaking entrepreneurs, it's too late to reserve the URL studbook.com, that's already an active site.)

Wind farms

It may seem strange for an entrepreneur to call for more government regulation, but when it comes to energy, that is what Mandelstam is doing. “As a student of history, you go back to a guy named Thomas Edison, and his first power plant, and the thing one has to point out is that the government and regulators have been integrally enmeshed in the energy business ever since it began on Pearl Street in 1882.” He points to Europe as an exemplar: “We were the world leader in wind. Europe overtook us quite a while ago and continues to beat us all the time because they got the public policy right.” Wise regulation, according to Mandelstam, and a thoughtful debate about energy policy is the best way to correct that. “Let’s line up all the subsidies of coal and nuclear power and oil and natural gas and wind — and let’s have a debate,” Mandelstam urges. “That hasn’t happened in the last eight years, and now, frankly, we’re paying the price for it.”

From the NY Times Sunday Magazine article Wind-Power Politics.

Used book stores

One of the markets most changed by the rise of the internet is the market for used books. Back in the day, people visiting Cambridge MA, for example, might put aside some time to browse the used book stores. The idea was that you probably had a mental list of out of print books you were looking for. No more. If you want an out of print book, you can search online and buy it from a distant seller. The NY Times book review has an essay today, Attack of the Megalisters, nostalgic for the old days.

(Hat tip to Muriel Niederle.)

Market for nurses

The Washington Post runs a story whose sub-headline is Recruitment Plans Focus On Working Conditions Over Financial Rewards . Apparently salary isn't the only way to compete for scarce nurses. Job satisfaction matters too. Who knew?

Airline safety: incentives and reporting

The NY Times has a story on airline safety, Panel Backs Letting Airlines Confess Errors Unpunished . Airlines and doctors have very different practices about reporting errors: there's more public reporting of "near misses" and other events in the domain of air traffic control, but docs have morbidity conferences in which they talk among themselves about bad outcomes.

Pay for performance in medicine

The NY Times has an essay called The Pitfalls of Linking Doctors’ Pay to Performance .

Presumed consent for organ donation

Repugnance: The Telegraph reports on objections to proposals to institute a presumed consent rule in Britain, where, as in the US, there is a big shortage transplantable organs.

Auctions for airline slots

A good idea that isn't going anywhere quickly is an auction for airline slots in the most congested airports. Here's a recent story from the Washington Post.

Introduction

Peter Coles and I are starting this blog in connection with our Fall 2008 Market Design course at Harvard. It is meant as a place to post news stories related to market design (including stories related to repugnant markets), and to think about market design ideas generally if briefly. For students, it is meant not to replace but to supplement the course page (where the class handouts will still be found). It also won't replace my market design page, although there will likely be links back and forth.

We are new bloggers, so please bear with us while we learn what this is good for. Our initial plan is to post only sporadically.