Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Book talk in Toronto, tomorrow, Dec 10


Big Ideas Speaker Series @ Rotman

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Suspected organ trafficker arrested

YNet has the story: Turkish authorities arrest Israeli suspected of organ trafficking
Boris Wolfman, who was indicted in Israel but managed to flee the country, was caught at Istanbul airport; he is expected to be extradited to Israel.

"According to a report in Turkish newspaper Daily Vatan, Wolfman allegedly arrived in Istanbul from Bangkok to convince struggling Syrian refugees to sell their organs.

He had reportedly already started contacting Syrian refugees, and was making arrangement to operate on them in small hospitals in Turkish cities.
Earlier this year, Wolfman and six others were charged with organ trafficking and organizing illegal transplants in Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka. The offenses in question were committed between the years 2008-2014.
According to the indictment, those receiving the illegal transplant had to pay between 70-100 thousand euro for the organ, while the organ donors only received tens of thousands of euros.
Wolfman used an ad in Russian newspapers to draw out potential donors, who agreed to donate one of their organs for money due to their difficult economic situation.

He did not explain to the donors about the physical and mental risks they face, denying them of the information they needed to make the decision. After the organ donation in Kosovo, the donors were discharged without receiving any explanation about needing medical treatment or about the changes to their health situation. There was also no adequate medical supervision following the operation, and at least one teenage boy became paralyzed because he did not receive proper treatment after his kidney was removed."

Monday, December 7, 2015

Jean Tirole interviewed in the Financial Times

Tirole thinks both about French economists and the French economy:
French lessons from a Nobel Prize winner

"...Laffont and Tirole thought internationally. Tirole says: “We started teaching in English 20 years ago, when it was illegal.”
...
"...economists aren’t heard or understood much in France. Tirole explains: “In France, in most universities you specialise very early but you don’t learn any economics. France came to a market economy pretty late, too. If you think about France, a lot of the decisions were administrative.”
Would-be reformers such as Tirole or economy minister Emmanuel Macron get shouted down with the ultimate French insult: “Libéral!” This essentially means “Laissez-faire capitalist”. Tirole explains: “People don’t know what libéral means. The truth is I don’t know economists who are for laissez-faire, so to speak. They may be for more or less regulation.”
...
"Tirole sketches France’s looming economic triple whammy. ...Third, he says, the digital economy will quickly destroy many jobs. He adds, half-jokingly: “Maybe my job won’t exist any more. Maybe all teaching will be done from Cambridge, Mass.”
...
"But if the far-right leader Marine Le Pen becomes president in 2017, would that ruin his hopes for France? “Yes,” sighs Tirole. “It ruins the country’s image but also the country’s economics. Leaving the euro, nationalising firms, pouring more money into civil-service jobs, and stopping migrants and imports will make markets even more inefficient, will increase the public deficit, and we will lose the discipline of the euro. I don’t want to answer your question. I don’t want to think about it.”

Airbnb Replies (with some data) to the Report of the NY State Attorney General

Here's a 2014 report by the NY State Attorney General's office, Airbnb in the city

Short-Term Rentals Experienced Explosive Growth. Private short-term bookings in New York City on Airbnb increased sharply during the Review Period, registering more than a tenfold increase. The associated revenue also spiked, nearly doubling each year. This year, revenue to Airbnb and its hosts from private short-term rentals in New York City is expected to exceed $282 million.

Most Short-Term Rentals Booked in New York Violated the Law. State and local laws in New York—including the Multiple Dwelling Law and the New York City Administrative Code— prohibit certain short-term rentals. During the Review Period, 72 percent of units used as private shortterm rentals on Airbnb appeared to violate these laws.

Commercial Users Accounted for a Disproportionate Share of Private ShortTerm Rentals by Volume and Revenue. Ninety-four percent of Airbnb hosts offered at most two unique units during the Review Period. But the remaining six percent of hosts dominated the platform during that period, offering up to hundreds of unique units, accepting 36 percent of private short-term bookings, and receiving $168 million, 37 percent of all host revenue. This report refers to these hosts as “Commercial Users.”

Top Commercial Users Employed Rental Platforms to Run Multimillion-Dollar Short-Term Rental Businesses. Well over 100 Commercial Users each controlled 10 or more unique Airbnb units during the Review Period. Together, these hosts accepted 47,103 private shortterm reservations and earned $59.4 million in revenue. The highest-earning operation administered 272 unique Airbnb listings, booked 3,024 reservations, and received $6.8 million in revenue during the Review Period. Each of the top 12 New York City operations on Airbnb during that period earned revenue exceeding $1 million.

Private Short-Term Rentals Displaced Long-Term Housing in Thousands of Apartments. In 2013, more than 4,600 units were booked as short-term rentals through Airbnb for three months of the year or more. Of these, nearly 2,000 units were booked as short-term rentals for a cumulative total of half the year or more—rendering them largely unavailable for use by long-term residents. Notably, the share of revenue to Airbnb and its hosts from units booked as private shortterm rentals for more than half the year increased steadily, accounting for 38 percent of each figure by 2013.

Numerous Short-Term Rental Units Appeared to Serve as Illegal Hostels. New York law does not permit commercial enterprises to operate hostels, where multiple, unrelated guests share tight quarters. In 2013, approximately 200 units in New York City were booked as private shortterm rentals for more than 365 nights during the year. This indicates that multiple transients shared the same listing on the same night, as they would in an illegal hostel. The 10 most-rented units for private short-term rentals were each booked for an average of about 1,900 nights in 2013, with the top listing accepting 13 reservations on an average night.

Gentrified or Rapidly Gentrifying Neighborhoods Primarily in Manhattan Accounted for the Vast Majority of Revenue from Private Short-Term Rentals in New York City. Bookings in just three Community Districts in Manhattan—the Lower East Side/Chinatown, Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen, and Greenwich Village/SoHo—accounted for approximately $187 million in revenue to hosts, or more than 40 percent of private stay revenue to hosts during the Review Period. By contrast, all the reservations in three boroughs (Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx) brought hosts revenue of $12 million—less than three percent of the New York City total
**********

Here's a recent NY Times story on the data Airbnb has recently made available:
Airbnb Says Data Dump Shows Misuse of Service Is Rare

"With its release of a trove of data this week, the short-term rental company Airbnb sought to underscore how the majority of its hosts in New York City are playing by the rules. The point is a critical one for the company, valued by investors at about $24 billion, as it tries to pacify skeptical lawmakers and regulators.
Of particular concern to officials are the Airbnb hosts who lease multiple apartments, renting them out year-round and distorting their market value in a climate of scarce affordable housing.
The anonymized information released by Airbnb on rentals between November 2014 and November 2015 showed that 55 hosts in Manhattan, the borough with the most listings, have five or more full units listed on the platform, a tiny fraction of the more than 18,700 units listed in the borough.
...
Airbnb said it removed more than 2,000 listings last year after an affidavit was filed by the New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, saying that two-thirds of the apartments listed in the city were illegal sublets.
A spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman’s office said that after a review of anonymized data Airbnb provided in 2014, it sought the identities of 124 hosts, all of whom had a minimum of 10 listings on the site and were earning an average of $500,000 a year. In June, the attorney general’s office referred the cases, including about two dozen hosts who had indicated a willingness to settle, to four city agencies with enforcement powers.
Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said that after receiving the attorney general’s referral, “city agencies began assembling cases to hold violators accountable.”
“We expect to announce those results soon,” he said.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Preston McAfee peers into the future (and sees market design)


Microsoft offers predictions from some of its futurists (and apparently economics fits somewhere between AI and data science...:

From AI and data science to cryptography: Microsoft researchers offer 16 predictions for ’16> 

Preston McAfee

Chief Economist, Microsoft
What will be the key breakthrough or advance in economics in 2016?Economists are struggling to understand why the current recovery involves low-productivity increases, in comparison to past recoveries, and whether low productivity is a new normal. I expect this conundrum will be answered in 2016, and the answer could have important implications for government policies to boost growth. Of course, it may turn out that the problem is measurement error, and that we are growing normally.
Looking forward 10 years to 2026, what will be the major advance in economics?Over the next 10 years, the major breakthrough of economics will be in applications of market design, which improves the efficiency of markets using a combination of game theory, economics and algorithm design. We’ve already seen fruitful application in search auctions, spectrum auctions, kidney exchange and school assignment.
How would you complete this sentence: 2016 will be the year that…Silicon Valley recognizes that the value of Uber is its marketplace, not the data, but that is probably too optimistic. The big data bubble has longer to run.

Improving Schools in MA: conference in Boston tomorrow

The conference in Boston tomorrow looks like a nice mix of academic researchers and education officials:
 Leveraging Research and Policy to Improve K-12 Education in Massachusetts
December 7, 2015, 8:00am - 5:30pm

Overview:
A num­ber of impor­tant issues are now on the state K-12 edu­ca­tion pol­icy agenda. In the past few years, schol­ars have pro­duced a wide range of results highly rel­e­vant for this agenda. The con­fer­ence is meant to bring mul­ti­ple stake­hold­ers together for a dis­cus­sion of research find­ings and future work that will be help­ful at this vital time.

Audience:
Policymakers, researchers, non-profit lead­ers and edu­ca­tion jour­nal­ists will be invited.

Agenda:
Click here for the agenda.

Registration:
Registration is now closed. Any jour­nal­ists who wish to attend should con­tact Annice Correia Gabel (acorreia@mit.edu).

Location:Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
600 Atlantic Ave #100
Boston, MA 02210

Keynote Speaker:Roland Fryer, Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University and fac­ulty direc­tor of the Education Innovation Laboratory.

Conference Organizers:
Katharine Bradbury, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Mary Burke, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Robert Triest, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Joshua Angrist, MIT and SEII
Parag Pathak, MIT and SEII

Contact:Please address any ques­tions to acorreia@mit.edu.

Among the talks are some that touch on school choice: 

Charters Without Lotteries: Testing Takeovers in New Orleans and Boston Atila Abdulkadiroğlu, Duke University Joshua Angrist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER Peter Hull, Massachusetts Institute of Technology* Parag A. Pathak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER

Leveraging Lotteries for School Value-Added: Testing and Estimation Joshua Angrist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER* Peter Hull, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Parag A. Pathak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER Christopher Walters, University of California, Berkeley and NBER

Overview of Unified Enrollment in American Cities Parag A. Pathak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER


Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Handbook of Market Design--now in paperback


The Handbook of Market Design is now available in paperback: here's what the publisher (Oxford U Press) has to say about it.

The Handbook of Market Design

Edited by Nir Vulkan, Alvin E. Roth, and Zvika Neeman

  • Includes chapters by Alvin Roth, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics 2012, including research for which he was awarded the prize
  • A comprehensive overview that presents the latest research in applied market design
  • Brings together all major researchers in the area, across disciplines- economics, engineering, computer science
  • Chapters on matching markets where there is a need to match large two-sided populations of agents such as medical residents and hospitals, law clerks and judges, patients and kidney donors, to one another
  • Active and fast-growing area of economics, lots of research, theory, and applications
  • No other book on this subject



and here's a recent book review...

Book Review: The Handbook of Market Design


Categories: EconomicsEquity InvestmentsStandards, Ethics & Regulations (SER)
Handbook of Market Design
The Handbook of Market Design2013. Nir Vulkan, Alvin E. Roth, and Zvika Neeman.

Friday, December 4, 2015

SIEPR Policy Forum, Powerful Tools: Innovation Challenges for the Next President,

I'll be speaking at lunch today at the SIEPR Policy Forum, 
Powerful Tools:  Innovation Challenges for the Next President

About the Forum
Innovation is moving beyond information to the physical world.   For this Policy Forum, we consider three innovation areas with great promise and risk - tools powerful enough to change the world around us.  

The first panel is on using market force to accomplish good - especially in areas such as energy use and climate.   Al Roth will follow with a related theme - some of his Nobel winning work on matching markets.  The second panel is on the power fo advanced genetics - especially the implications of the new "CRISPR" technology.  The third panel is on the economics and policy issues surrounding end-to-end encryption, and especially whether firms and product designers can and should provide "exceptional access" to governments.  This affects not only our communication devices, but increasing the "Internet of Things."

Agenda

11:00am
Using Markets for Good
Smart Markets for Energy Conservation -  Zach Gentry (Enlighted Inc.)
From Worst Case to Smart LaunchesTom Colvin (Stanford)
12:00 pm Lunch Speaker:  Al Roth (Stanford Economics, 2012 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics)
Who Gets What – and Why
(Lunch following speaker, provided to all registered attendees)
1:00 pm
Designing Life
CRISPR-CAS9: Designer DNA - Hank Greely (Stanford)
Intellectual Property and DNA - Mark Lemley (Stanford) 
2:00 Economics and End-to-End Encryption:  The Cost and Benefits of "Exceptional Access"
(The economics of secure online communications versus government backdoors for the Internet and Internet of Things)
John Mitchell (Stanford Vice Provost, Computer Science)
Herbert Lin (Stanford, CISAC)
(Additional panel members TBD)

3:00 Innovation and Jobs
Enrico Moretti (U.C. Berkeley Economics)
 Reception to follow.


REGISTER HERE:  PLEASE RSVP HERE

Masahiko Aoki Memorial Conference

Masahiko Aoki Memorial Conference

The Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) Japan Program with the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies (FSI) as well as the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), and the Stanford Department of Economics will be hosting a memorial conference and service on December 4th and 5th in honor of the late Masahiko Aoki. December 4th will be a full day conference featuring topics within Masa's extensive field of study and research including theoretical and applied economics, theory of institutions, corporate architecture and governance, and the Japanese and Chinese economies. The day will culminate with a cocktail reception. The Celebration of Life on December 5th will be a gathering for family and friends in remembrance of Masa with a light lunch reception to follow.
December 4, 2015
Memorial Conference
Bechtel Conference Center, 616 Serra Street
Stanford University
Agenda
8:30am - 8:50am            Breakfast & Registration
8:50am - 9:00am            Welcome Remarks: Takeo Hoshi (Stanford University)
9:00am - 9:30am            Kenneth Arrow (Stanford University), “The Role of Organizational Structure in the Economy”
9:30am - 10:00am          Paul Milgrom (Stanford University), "Designing the US Incentive Auction"
10:00am - 10:30am        Break
10:30am - 11:00am        Koichi Hamada, Yale University, “Masahiko Aoki: A Social Scientist"
11:00am - 11:30am        Kotaro Suzumura (Hitotsubashi University), “Masahiko Aoki (1938-2015): Recollections of his Pilgrimage and Legacy in Japan”
11:30am - 12:00pm       Yingyi Qian (Tsinghua University), "Masahiko Aoki and China"
12:00pm - 1:15pm          Lunch
1:15pm - 1:45pm            Jiahua Che (Chinese University of Hong Kong) presenting Masahiko Aoki's
                                            "Three-person game of institutional resilience vc transition: A model and
                                              China-Japan comparative history"
1:45pm - 2:15pm           Miguel Angel Garcia Cestona (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona), "Corporate Governance and Employee Participation: some lessons from Mondragon"
2:15pm - 2:45pm           Herbert Gintis (Santa Fe Institute), "General Social Equilibrium and its Dynamics"
2:45pm - 3:15pm           Break
3:15pm - 3:45pm           Dale Jorgenson (Harvard University), "A Half Century of Trans-Pacific Competition"
3:45pm - 4:15pm           Avner Greif (Stanford University), "Comparative Institutional Analysis: China and Europe Compared"
4:15pm - 4:45pm           Francis Fukuyama (Stanford University), "Asian Kinship, Industrial Structure, and Trust in Government"
4:45pm - 5:00pm           Closing, Takeo Hoshi (Stanford University)
5:00pm - 6:00pm           Cocktail Reception
*Agenda is subject to change and will be updated as speakers are confirmed

December 5, 2015
Celebration of Life
Bechtel Conference Center, 616 Serra Street
Stanford University
Agenda
10:30am - 11:00am          Registration
11:00am - 12:00pm          Celebration of Life
12:00pm - 1:30pm            Lunch Reception

Thursday, December 3, 2015

J.P. Morgan’s Holiday Reading List

J.P. Morgan’s Holiday Reading List

"The bank just released internally its ninth-annual holiday reading list, continuing a tradition of offering its private bank and investment-management clients a year-end roster of book suggestions. The list is focused on celebrating, giving and sharing, said Darin Oduyoye, who crafted the bank’s reading list idea and leads communications for J.P. Morgan’s asset management division.

"This year’s list of seven titles range from Jimmy Carter’s latest autobiography to the economics of matchmaking. It even includes a musical interlude: the cast recording of the hit Broadway show “Hamilton.” J.P. Morgan asset management executives from Dubai, Milan, Sao Paulo and New York, among other cities, met several times – and did a lot of reading — to narrow down the list from 516 titles, Mr. Oduyoye added.

"Here’s a look at this season’s picks:

A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety by Jimmy Carter

America’s Bank: The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal Reserve by Roger Lowenstein

Hamilton: An American Musical (Original Cast Recording) by Lin-Manuel Miranda

I Am Because You Are: How the Spirit of Ubuntu Inspired an Unlikely Friendship and Transformed a Community by Jacob Lief and Andrea Thompson

Life is Good: The Book by Bert Jacobs and John Jacobs

Maya Lin: Topologies by Maya Lin, text by Michael Brenson, William L. Fox and Paul Goldberger

Who Gets What — and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Could the Swiss apprenticeship market use some market design?

A review of Who Gets What and Why from Switzerland suggests that the Swiss apprenticeship market is unraveled and could use some market design: Ökonomie als Ingenieurskunst, by David Staubli.

Google Translate: "With these findings, perhaps could also improve the design of the Swiss apprenticeship market. The current system suffers from the same problems as before the American job market for junior doctors. A mandatory cut-off date to Submit quotations from the part of the company would preserve the future trainees from having to be set too early and then lose the motivation for the school routine. The coordinated timing to Submit apprenticeships contracts would also increase market depth and the "matching" improve."

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Remembering Douglass North with a photo

I hardly knew North, but here is a picture of him, still vigorous at 94, at dinner in California in June 2014, with Ken Arrow and me.
North, Roth, and Arrow, June 2014
Douglass C. North, Maverick Economist and Nobel Laureate, Dies at 95

Obituary: Douglass C. North, Nobel Prize-winning economist, 95

Remembering Douglass North


Monday, November 30, 2015

An attempt to stem the uncontrolled flow of migrants to Europe

The NY Times has the story: E.U. Offers Turkey 3 Billion Euros to Stem Migrant Flow

"Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, according to diplomats, will be promised 3 billion euros, or about $3.2 billion, in European aid and other inducements in exchange for Turkish action to stop migrants, most of them from the Middle East and Afghanistan, from reaching Greece and other countries on Europe’s outer fringe.
...
"Speaking to reporters in Brussels before the meeting, Ms. Merkel said Europe had many reasons to work closely with Turkey but that the essential part of the negotiations was the need to “replace illegal migration with legal migration.”
...
"Europe wants Turkey’s help in identifying genuine refugees, notably Syrians, who would be allowed entry in an orderly fashion, and in halting people fleeing poverty who do not have an obvious right to protection under international law.

"Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, the body representing European leaders, set out Europe’s objective in blunt terms: “Our main goal is to stem the flow of migrants to Europe,” he said, describing Turkey as a “key partner” on issues including counterterrorism and the civil war in Syria.

"But he stressed that Europe itself needed to do more to secure its external borders and that it could not “outsource this obligation to any third country,” like Turkey. Failing to protect the Continent’s outer borders, he warned, would mean that one of Europe’s most important achievements, the 26-nation visa-free zone known as Schengen, “will become history.”

"Later, as the meeting got underway, Mr. Tusk told the summit that 1.5 million migrants had entered the European Union this year."

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Incentives change how we think--Tyler Cowen on Sandro Ambuehl

Incentives change how we think is Tyler Cowen's post at MR this morning, on Sandro Ambuehl's job market paper.  (Now is the time to schedule an interview with him at the AEA meetings:)

Read the paper here: An Offer You Can't Refuse? Incentives Change How We Think 


Peter Cramton on Market Design (video)

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Friday, November 27, 2015

Econ Job market: send two signals by this weekend!

If you are a new Ph.D. economist on the job market, Happy Thanksgiving weekend, and now is the time to send two signals through the AEA. (The deadline is Monday, but if you wait til then you might forget to get your signal in in time: it's 5pm Eastern Standard Time.) The idea is that you can help break through the congestion for interviews at the AEA meetings, by sending signals to two employers who might otherwise think you were unlikely to be interested enough in them for them to devote one of their interview slots to you.

Don't over-think this (it's not that big a deal), but do send two signals to places at which you'd be glad to get an interview but which might not realize that about you.

Here's the link:

The AEA coordinates a mechanism through which applicants can signal their interest in receiving an interview at the January meetings. In mid-November, each registered JOE candidate on the economics job market will have the opportunity to register and designate no more than two departments (or other employers) to whom to send a signal of particular interest. The AEA will transmit these signals to the departments the candidates choose. (Signals will not be made public.) Employers do not need to do anything to register to receive signals; signals will be sent automatically to the email address provided at the time the JOE listing was submitted.
Please see Signaling for Interviews in the Economics Job Market for a detailed description as well as theTerms of Use and Privacy Policy.

2015 Signaling Timeline:

-2015 Signaling Registration & Signal Selection is now open.
-2015 Signaling Registration & Signal Selection will close on Monday, November 30, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. EST.
-2015 Signals will be sent to employers on December 2, 2015.
Please contact aea_signals "at" aeaweb.org with any questions or problems.
You must be logged in as a candidate to participate in signaling.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

A deportation delayed, to allow for a kidney exchange.

Here's a complicated story:

KIDNEY TRANSPLANT: Brother gets reprieve before deportation to Cambodia

"A life-and-death fight by two Stockton brothers to delay the deportation of one of them for humanitarian reasons appears headed toward a positive outcome for the men, who came to the United States from Cambodia as refugees in 1985.

"A recent ruling by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will allow Touch Hak, 38, to remain in this country for three more years before his deportation for a past drug offense.

"Those three years will allow Hak to participate in a paired kidney-donation program intended to help his brother, 50-year-old Puthy Hak, receive the transplant he needs to remain alive.

“I did my (prison time) for nine years,” Touch Hak said Monday. “I tried to really rehabilitate myself. It’s a lot of weight lifted from our shoulders. All I want to do is give my brother another chance. This will open another door for him.”

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Speaking about market design in Moscow (2 photos)


Where the red star is not a Christmas ornament...



Here I am at the Financial University

And here's a brief bio, in Russian:
Специалист по практическим приложения экономики
(Goog translate: Specialist in practical applications of the economy)

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Alcott and Kessler on behavior and welfare changes from 'nudges"

An NBER working paper:

The Welfare Effects of Nudges: A Case Study of Energy Use Social Comparisons
Hunt Allcott, Judd B. Kessler
NBER Working Paper No. 21671
Issued in October 2015

Abstract:
"Nudge"-style interventions are typically evaluated on the basis of their effects on behavior, not social welfare. We use a field experiment to measure the welfare effects of one especially policy-relevant intervention, home energy conservation reports. We measure consumer welfare by sending introductory reports and using an incentive-compatible multiple price list to determine willingness-to-pay to continue the program. We combine this with estimates of implementation costs and externality reductions to carry out a comprehensive welfare evaluation. We find that this nudge increases social welfare, although traditional program evaluation approaches overstate welfare gains by a factor of five. To exploit significant individual-level heterogeneity in welfare gains, we develop a simple machine learning algorithm to optimally target the nudge; this would more than double the welfare gains. Our results highlight that nudges, even those that are highly effective at changing behavior, need to be evaluated based on their welfare implications.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Kidney Exchange: Algorithms and Incentives: video of my lecture at the Simons Institute

Here's a video (about an hour, with Q&A) of the talk I gave at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, at Berkeley, on Monday Nov 16.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Making the market for medical marijuana a little less medical

The NY Times has a story on how easy it is to get a prescription for marijuana in states like California, where medical marijuana is legal but recreational marijuana is  not supposed to be:
Silicon Valley Tries to Alter Your Perception of Cannabis

"One morning in September, I logged on to the website of HelloMD, a medical start-up that promises to connect patients with doctors instantly over the Internet. I filled out my personal details, explained my ailment — I often get heartburn — and entered in my credit card number to cover the $50 consultation fee.

"Within 10 minutes, a pediatrician based near Washington who is licensed to practice medicine in my home state of California popped up on my screen. ...

"The doctor asked about my medical history, current symptoms and familiarity with certain medicines. The interview lasted about three minutes, after which she announced what everyone who visits HelloMD expects to hear: According to her diagnosis, my heartburn made me a candidate for medical marijuana, which has been legal in California since 1996."
****************
Marijuana may eventually be legalized for recreational use in California (as it already is in Colorado, Oregon and the state of Washington). But the market isn't waiting for that:

Prescriptions: HelloMD: "Join and get a Doctor recommendation for medical marijuana. Fully Legal. 100% Online. Secure. Approved in 20 mins."

Find a medical dispensary: Weedmaps

Friday, November 20, 2015

Matchmaking among the Haredi

Ynet has a story: 
Ultra-orthodox matchmaking: everything it's best not to know

"Among the traditional Haredi public – not the modern stream, which has changed in recent years – pairing one's children is the exclusive responsibility of parents. No yeshiva boy is supposed to choose a girl himself. When parents think the time is right, the phase known as "starting to listen" begins – that is, taking suggestions and statements from matchmakers. For the Hasidim it happens around the age of 18, sometimes even younger. For Lithuanians and Sephardim, it's around the age of 20.

"During this stage parents approach matchmakers, tell them about their son or daughter and specify what they are seeking for their child. Finally, much like in the job market, they give the names of their relatives, neighbors and teachers who can provide those interested with "recommendations," or simply additional details.

"When the two sides feel that the stats are good, a meeting between the couple will be arranged. In most Haredi communities the couple will meet a maximum of three times before they become engaged. In the more devout Hasidic communities, the strict rules permit only one meeting, lasting about 20 minutes. The rationale: they will probably develop feelings, and feelings are bad for business.
...
"Haya, a neighbor of mine, got hitched to a match 38 years ago and is still married. To the same man. Eight out of her 15 children got married in the same way. "We aren't looking for love," she tells me. "We don't marry because I love you or you love me. We have a common goal – to build a home in Israel – and we work together in order to achieve that aim."

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Two public lectures today in Vancouver

Two lectures, two different topics (with a little overlap:). If you're in Vancouver...

At UBC: Woodward Lecture Series: Repugnant Transactions
19 November 2015 12:30-2:00 pm
MATH Building, Room 100
"The Vancouver School of Economics is very pleased to host Nobel Laureate Alvin Roth for a free lecture entitled “Repugnant Transactions”.

AT SFU Economics: BMO Public Lecture: 
 Who Gets What and Why: The Economics of Life Choices from School Admissions to Kidney Exchange
1200 Event Room, Segal School of Business (SFU Vancouver)
500 Granville St., Vancouver
Time: 7:00 PM , Thursday, November 19, 2015
"You participate in many more markets than you may realize. From school admissions to kidney exchanges, markets are all around us - even when no money exchanges hands. Alvin Roth, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics, explains the economics of hidden markets and how market design can help fix broken markets, and create new ones. Professor Roth will explore how we can make better decisions by matching our desires in a marketplace."

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

To help Paris, donate blood... later (guest post by Carmen Wang)

Carmen Wang writes:

To help Paris, donate blood... later.

Paris needs blood donations in the aftermath of the Attacks, although not that much more than a typical Saturday (EFS press release). Real shortages, however, are very likely in the upcoming winter and holiday season. Market designers point out that blood donations, with kind intention, can happen at wrong times. Instead, would-be donors can register their names and availability with the blood service, and help later when blood is most needed.

Paris:
Long queues to donate blood everywhere 



EFS (French Blood Service) informing of enough blood supply and asking donors to come back later



Boston in 2013:
Various calls for blood donations after the Boston Marathon Bombing, for example


(Notice the time of this tweet and that of the next tweet)

The American Red Cross politely declining more blood donations



What happened in the two cities are not coincidences.

Similar phenomenon in blood donations has happened during so many disasters like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Victoria Bushfire in Australia. In severe cases, it leads to blood, the gift of life, being left expired on the shelf. However, in 'normal' times most countries suffer recurring blood shortages, especially during winter, due to the holiday season and that many regular donors are affected by cold and flu. Particularly this time in Paris, the winter is coming. The blood collected today will expire in a few weeks right at beginning of the winter months. Moreover, donors who donated today, when there is no real blood shortage, will not be able to donate in winter when shortages do occur. We can only donate blood approximately once every 3 months. Blood is so precious, so donate wisely.

The reason why the above phenomenon repeats itself across the world is because blood donations need to follow the demand for blood, but most people do not have the necessary information. In addition, other people's donations also affects the supply of blood in real time, which makes it impossible for an individual donor to decide whether it is a good time to donate blood. In Paris, we do want to help those who are injured in the Attacks, but not all donors need to respond at the same time. Too many donations can quickly lead to wasteful congestion and oversupply, and worse, potentially affect the blood supply immediately afterwards.

The solution is surprisingly simple, which is to set up a blood donation registry. People who want to help now can sign up in a registry, and commit to donate later when a blood shortage does occur. After all, a need for blood anytime is a need for blood. What difference does it make if it occurs during the Paris Attacks, Boston Marathon Bombing, Australia's Victoria Bushfire versus other 'ordinary' times? The blood service, which knows the need for blood at any given time, can contact donors in the registry to meet any excess demand for blood, and maintain an adequate level of blood supply in the long term. With the help of the registry, registered donors can be informed correctly not only when there is a potential shortage in aggregate, but more importantly, when their donations are needed and when others have donated enough. 
So to people in Paris, how about a registry in memory of Paris Attacks? The registry not only helps smooth out supply in disaster times, but also helps donors to stay informed, and donate whenever there is a need in normal times. And to donors anywhere in the world, the need for blood in your local area might be more than that in Paris as today. If you would've helped were you in Paris, maybe someone needs your help right now right around you.


More details, see paperSlonim, Robert, Carmen Wang, and Ellen Garbarino (2014). The Market for BloodThe Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(2), 177-196.
And two upcoming working papers (inquire authors for more information)Slonim, Robert and Carmen Wang (2015), Market design for altruistic supply: Evidence from the Lab


Garbarino, Ellen, Stephanie Heger, Robert Slonim and Carmen Wang, Redesigning markets for blood donations: A blood donation registry