The demand for market designers:
"Paulson, while seeking maximum flexibility, said the Treasury is considering doing auctions one asset class at a time. He said the aim to bring “bright people” to work on the challenge of designing market mechanisms." (This sounds like a job for Paul Milgrom).
Hat tip to Eric Budish (who is on the market as a market designer this year).
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Job market for couples
Two-career households are an important part of the labor force, particularly in academia. Hiring them can be part of a department or school's strategy. See Law Schools Hiring Faculty Couples, from Brian Leiter's Law School Reports.
(Note to students: we'll be covering couples in the medical labor market in either lecture 2 or 3....see
Roth, A.E., "The Evolution of the Labor Market for Medical Interns and Residents: A Case Study in Game Theory," Journal of Political Economy, 92, 1984, 991-1016.
and
Roth, A. E. and Elliott Peranson, "The Redesign of the Matching Market for American Physicians: Some Engineering Aspects of Economic Design," American Economic Review, 89, 4, September, 1999, 748-780.
(Note to students: we'll be covering couples in the medical labor market in either lecture 2 or 3....see
Roth, A.E., "The Evolution of the Labor Market for Medical Interns and Residents: A Case Study in Game Theory," Journal of Political Economy, 92, 1984, 991-1016.
and
Roth, A. E. and Elliott Peranson, "The Redesign of the Matching Market for American Physicians: Some Engineering Aspects of Economic Design," American Economic Review, 89, 4, September, 1999, 748-780.
Philosophy job market
A story on the philosophy department at Auburn University contains some insights into the whole philosophy supply chain, from attracting students to sending them to grad school to recruiting professors. The philosophy job market is in some ways unusual even for an academic job market. An interesting window on it (occasionally) is Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Vacancy chains in Manhattan real estate
The NY Times reports that the current credit crunch means that real estate buyers in Manhattan, especially those who have to be approved by a co-op board, are often having to sell their previous home before they meet the credit requirements to buy. For Buyers, Many Roadblocks
Friday, September 19, 2008
Congestion in the market for parking spaces
The NY Times has a story called The Year of the Parking Space that touches on many parking related developments in NY. The most interesting part concerns congestion: lots of resources are spent trying to find parking spots.
"Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation is trying congestion rate parking in Greenwich Village as well as in and around Midwood to reduce double parking and cruising for available spots this fall. A recent Transportation Alternatives study on underpriced curbside parking on the Upper West Side found that drivers on Columbus Avenue cruise a total of 366,000 miles a year, producing 325 tons of carbon dioxide, at a cost to drivers of $130,000 per year in wasted fuel and more than 50,000 hours spent circling in traffic.
Further down the line? The department is trying to allow people to pay for parking via cellphones.
But for high-tech parking, San Francisco trumps us. They are developing a wireless sensor network that will announce which spaces are free at any moment. "
The Transportation Alternatives report linked in the excerpt is worth looking at. It begins in a way that makes clear why this is a market design problem:
"Every driving trip begins and ends with parking. But the demand for curbside parking in New York City far exceeds the supply. This mismatch is greatly compounded by the fact that curbside parking is free or priced far below garage rates, which are 10-15 times more expensive .
The low price of curbside parking unleashes a torrent of bargain-hunting drivers. Those who find spaces stay longer to make the most of their find. And when all spaces at the curb are occupied, other cars looking for parking circle in traffic for an elusive space. The saturation of curbside parking is a direct cause of air pollution, illegal parking and traffic congestion, all of which exact high costs on New York City’s environment, economy, health and quality of life."
"Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation is trying congestion rate parking in Greenwich Village as well as in and around Midwood to reduce double parking and cruising for available spots this fall. A recent Transportation Alternatives study on underpriced curbside parking on the Upper West Side found that drivers on Columbus Avenue cruise a total of 366,000 miles a year, producing 325 tons of carbon dioxide, at a cost to drivers of $130,000 per year in wasted fuel and more than 50,000 hours spent circling in traffic.
Further down the line? The department is trying to allow people to pay for parking via cellphones.
But for high-tech parking, San Francisco trumps us. They are developing a wireless sensor network that will announce which spaces are free at any moment. "
The Transportation Alternatives report linked in the excerpt is worth looking at. It begins in a way that makes clear why this is a market design problem:
"Every driving trip begins and ends with parking. But the demand for curbside parking in New York City far exceeds the supply. This mismatch is greatly compounded by the fact that curbside parking is free or priced far below garage rates, which are 10-15 times more expensive .
The low price of curbside parking unleashes a torrent of bargain-hunting drivers. Those who find spaces stay longer to make the most of their find. And when all spaces at the curb are occupied, other cars looking for parking circle in traffic for an elusive space. The saturation of curbside parking is a direct cause of air pollution, illegal parking and traffic congestion, all of which exact high costs on New York City’s environment, economy, health and quality of life."
The college admissions/ college guide market
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Ticket pricing
Lots of markets (including entry-level labor markets) have more uniform prices than economists customarily suppose. Tickets for sporting events, for example, typically cost the same regardless of the quality of the opponents. (Teams have often been afraid of alienating fans, who it was thought might find it repugnant to pay more for more exciting games.) The Los Angeles Lakers propose to change that: Lakers will have higher ticket prices for seven games in 2008-09.
Hat tip to Steve Leider (who will be on the new economist labor market this year:)
Hat tip to Steve Leider (who will be on the new economist labor market this year:)
Delay banking for air traffic
NASA proposes Delay banking for managing air traffic. The idea is that an airline whose flight was delayed by air traffic controllers would gain some 'delay points' that could be used to bid for early landing in (other) congested situations.
For some reason, NASA has taken out a patent on this idea. (The patent system is itself meant to be a solution to a certain kind of market design problem. The granting of patents to these kinds of "business practices" raises some questions about that solution. )
For some reason, NASA has taken out a patent on this idea. (The patent system is itself meant to be a solution to a certain kind of market design problem. The granting of patents to these kinds of "business practices" raises some questions about that solution. )
Repugnant transactions in Australia
Australian pub offers free alcohol for knickerless women.
Mayor Janet Cribbes slammed the promotion in the local press.
"It fuels the fire for irresponsible drinking, irresponsible behaviour and puts young women at risk and makes them more vulnerable to sexual assault," she said.
"I'd thought they would have learnt their lesson from the dwarf episode. We'll be paying them a visit soon, I'd say."
Mayor Janet Cribbes slammed the promotion in the local press.
"It fuels the fire for irresponsible drinking, irresponsible behaviour and puts young women at risk and makes them more vulnerable to sexual assault," she said.
"I'd thought they would have learnt their lesson from the dwarf episode. We'll be paying them a visit soon, I'd say."
Bibliography of matching--update
I maintain a web-based Bibliography of matching and market design, and it is getting harder to keep it up to date as the field grows. (This is a good problem to have. If you have some papers that should be there, please send me a list in a form I can cut and paste:) I just added/updated the following papers by Fuhito Kojima:
Incentives and Stability in Large Two-Sided Matching Markets (2007), with Parag A. Pathak, American Economic Review, forthcoming.
Random Assignment of Multiple Indivisible Objects (2007), forthcoming, Mathematical Social Sciences.
Matching with Contracts: Comment (2007), with John William Hatfield, American Economic Review, forthcoming..
Games of School Choice under the Boston Mechanism with General Priority Structures (2007), Social Choice and Welfare, forthcoming.
The Law of Aggregate Demand and Welfare in the Two-Sided Matching Market (2007),
Economics Letters, forthcoming.
When can Manipulations be Avoided in Two-Sided Matching Markets? Maximal Domain Results (2007),
The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics (contribution), Article 32.
Matching and Price Competition: Comment (2007),
American Economic Review 97, pp 1027-1031.
Random Paths to Pairwise Stability in Many-to-Many Matching Problems: A Study on Market Equilibration (2006), with M. Utku Ünver,
International Journal of Game Theory (the Special Issue in Honor of David Gale), 2008.
Mixed Strategies in Games of Capacity Manipulation in Hospital-Intern Markets (2006),
Social Choice and Welfare 27, pp 25-28.
Strategy-Proofness of the Probabilistic Serial Mechanism in Large Random Assignment Problems (2007), with Mihai Manea
Competitive Claims and Resource Allocation by Deferred Acceptance (2007), with Mihai Manea,
Finding All Stable Matchings with Couples (2007), revise
Asymptotic Equivalence of Probabilistic Serial and Random Priority Mechanisms (2008), with Yeon-Koo Che
Group Incentive Compatibility for Matching with Contracts (2007), with John William Hatfield
Substitutes and Stability for Matching with Contracts (2007), with John William Hatfield
Incentives and Stability in Large Two-Sided Matching Markets (2007), with Parag A. Pathak, American Economic Review, forthcoming.
Random Assignment of Multiple Indivisible Objects (2007), forthcoming, Mathematical Social Sciences.
Matching with Contracts: Comment (2007), with John William Hatfield, American Economic Review, forthcoming..
Games of School Choice under the Boston Mechanism with General Priority Structures (2007), Social Choice and Welfare, forthcoming.
The Law of Aggregate Demand and Welfare in the Two-Sided Matching Market (2007),
Economics Letters, forthcoming.
When can Manipulations be Avoided in Two-Sided Matching Markets? Maximal Domain Results (2007),
The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics (contribution), Article 32.
Matching and Price Competition: Comment (2007),
American Economic Review 97, pp 1027-1031.
Random Paths to Pairwise Stability in Many-to-Many Matching Problems: A Study on Market Equilibration (2006), with M. Utku Ünver,
International Journal of Game Theory (the Special Issue in Honor of David Gale), 2008.
Mixed Strategies in Games of Capacity Manipulation in Hospital-Intern Markets (2006),
Social Choice and Welfare 27, pp 25-28.
Strategy-Proofness of the Probabilistic Serial Mechanism in Large Random Assignment Problems (2007), with Mihai Manea
Competitive Claims and Resource Allocation by Deferred Acceptance (2007), with Mihai Manea,
Finding All Stable Matchings with Couples (2007), revise
Asymptotic Equivalence of Probabilistic Serial and Random Priority Mechanisms (2008), with Yeon-Koo Che
Group Incentive Compatibility for Matching with Contracts (2007), with John William Hatfield
Substitutes and Stability for Matching with Contracts (2007), with John William Hatfield
ReRegulation of the financial markets
A lot of market design is done, thoughtfully or on the fly, by regulators. A good overview of recent events in the financial market meltdown is at
Freakonomics: Diamond and Kashyap on the Recent Financial Upheavals
Freakonomics: Diamond and Kashyap on the Recent Financial Upheavals
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Incentives in (British) medicine
The Telegraph reports on the Annual Congress of the British Orthopaedic Association: Severely injured patients are being delayed specialist care because Government targets mean hospitals are encouraged to operate on routine cases first, experts have warned.
"Routine cases such as hip and knee replacements have to be carried out within Government waiting time targets meaning urgent trauma cases are delayed which can jeopardise their recovery."
"Routine cases such as hip and knee replacements have to be carried out within Government waiting time targets meaning urgent trauma cases are delayed which can jeopardise their recovery."
The Google-Yahoo deal
Hal Varian's thoughts on the Google-Yahoo deal are here: The SearchIgnite study on ad prices and the Yahoo-Google deal.
Ben Edelman's are here.
Ben Edelman's are here.
Science (and Economics?) and Religion
The Church of England (in the person of the Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, their director of Mission and Public Affairs) has published a belated apology to Charles Darwin, called Good religion needs good science. For those of us worried about the sometimes contentious relation between economics and religion, in connection with repugnant transactions, for example, it is worth reading.
Dr Brown notes "It is hard to avoid the thought that the reaction against Darwin was largely based on what we would now call the 'yuk factor' (an emotional not an intellectual response) when he proposed a lineage from apes to humans."
His concluding paragraph:
"Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practice the old virtues of 'faith seeking understanding' and hope that makes some amends. But the struggle for your reputation is not over yet, and the problem is not just your religious opponents but those who falsely claim you in support of their own interests. Good religion needs to work constructively with good science – and I dare to suggest that the opposite may be true as well."
Dr Brown notes "It is hard to avoid the thought that the reaction against Darwin was largely based on what we would now call the 'yuk factor' (an emotional not an intellectual response) when he proposed a lineage from apes to humans."
His concluding paragraph:
"Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practice the old virtues of 'faith seeking understanding' and hope that makes some amends. But the struggle for your reputation is not over yet, and the problem is not just your religious opponents but those who falsely claim you in support of their own interests. Good religion needs to work constructively with good science – and I dare to suggest that the opposite may be true as well."
University tuition in Israel
Israel has several remarkably good universities, all heavily regulated by the state. Recently some private colleges have opened. The following story from Yedhiot suggests the government might allow universities some freedom in setting tuition. (We'll see...)
Appropriation committee defies education minister, permits each university to set own tuition fee level. Student Union vows it will put up fight
Appropriation committee defies education minister, permits each university to set own tuition fee level. Student Union vows it will put up fight
Kidneys in Canada
The Kidney Foundation of Canada applauds recent government announcement to improve organ donation:
Canada is taking steps to promote kidney exchange by establishing a database of patient-donor pairs.
And various Canadian provinces (BC in 2006 and Ontario and Manitoba in 2008) have initiated programs to reimburse out of pocket expenses of live organ donors,and some very limited lost income reimbursement. While the laws that prohibit organ sales often explicitly allow reimbursement of expenses, jurisdictions have been slow to authorize reimbursement, for fear of starting down the slippery slope towards payment for organs.
Canada is taking steps to promote kidney exchange by establishing a database of patient-donor pairs.
And various Canadian provinces (BC in 2006 and Ontario and Manitoba in 2008) have initiated programs to reimburse out of pocket expenses of live organ donors,and some very limited lost income reimbursement. While the laws that prohibit organ sales often explicitly allow reimbursement of expenses, jurisdictions have been slow to authorize reimbursement, for fear of starting down the slippery slope towards payment for organs.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Market for textbooks
Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Free in the NY Times:
"In protest of what he says are textbooks’ intolerably high prices — and the dumbing down of their content to appeal to the widest possible market — Professor McAfee has put his introductory economics textbook online free. ...“This market is not working very well — except for the shareholders in the textbook publishers,” he said. “We have lots of knowledge, but we are not getting it out.”
"In protest of what he says are textbooks’ intolerably high prices — and the dumbing down of their content to appeal to the widest possible market — Professor McAfee has put his introductory economics textbook online free. ...“This market is not working very well — except for the shareholders in the textbook publishers,” he said. “We have lots of knowledge, but we are not getting it out.”
Monday, September 15, 2008
Black market for kidneys in Singapore
A Singapore businessman sentenced for attempting to buy a kidney from a villager in Indonesia has highlighted the shortage of kidneys available for transplants and has fueled a national debate on the legalization of organ trade.
Market for professors
A brief comparison of some features of the academic marketplaces in Argentina, France, and Germany is given in The Worst Academic Profession Career Structures by Philip G. Altbach and Christine Musselin.
Euthanasia
Repugnant transactions in Europe:
"In his homily, the pope said the ill should pray to find ''the grace to accept, without fear or bitterness, to leave this world at the hour chosen by God.'' The Vatican vehemently maintains that life must continue to its natural end.
The message has special resonance in Europe. Belgium and the Netherlands have legalized euthanasia, and Switzerland allows counselors or physicians to prepare a lethal dose, though patients must take it on their own."
From NY Times: Pope to sick: Accept death at hour chosen by God
"In his homily, the pope said the ill should pray to find ''the grace to accept, without fear or bitterness, to leave this world at the hour chosen by God.'' The Vatican vehemently maintains that life must continue to its natural end.
The message has special resonance in Europe. Belgium and the Netherlands have legalized euthanasia, and Switzerland allows counselors or physicians to prepare a lethal dose, though patients must take it on their own."
From NY Times: Pope to sick: Accept death at hour chosen by God
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