The Design of Markets. Una Nobel Lecture (Two talks in Padua, on Tuesday and Wednesday)

 Following my talk in Rome today, I'll be speaking in Padua tomorrow and Wednesday, first giving a seminar on controversial markets, and then a public lecture on market design.

The Design of Markets. Una Nobel Lecture di Alvin Eliot Roth

"On Wednesday 8 May the University of Padua hosts the  Nobel Lecture

...

"The meeting opens with greetings from the vice-rector Antonio Parbonetti  and the director of the Galilean School of Higher Studies,  Gianguido Dall'Agata . The guest is introduced by Antonio Nicolò , coordinator of the Social Sciences Class of the Galilean School.

...

"The Nobel Lecture, which is held in English , is  open to the public . To participate, reservations are required 

You can also follow the meeting via  live streaming on YouTube .

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The Padua Nobel Lecture by Alvin Eliot Roth is preceded, on Tuesday 7 May at 3pm, by a seminar aimed exclusively at professors, researchers, fellows of the Department of Economic Sciences of the University of Padua - dSEA .
The Economics Seminar  is entitled " Controversial markets and repugnant transactions " and is held at the department headquarters in via del Santo 33 in Padua.

Baby formula and U.S. supply chains

 Martha Gershon points me to her latest column, to be followed in due time by a book on feeding babies in America.

The U.S. needs a reliable supply of baby formula. A new bill in Congress can help      By Martha Gershun and Rosa DeLauro  May 2, 2024

"Here’s the background: In February 2022, Abbott recalled three brands of its baby formula after four babies became sick with bacterial infections after consuming the company’s formula. When a Food and Drug Administration inspection uncovered traces of a potentially deadly bacteria in Abbott’s main production plant in Sturgis, Mich., the company shut down the plant, which at the time produced more than 40% of U.S. formula. The shutdown caused cascading supply chain problems, creating a severe shortage of baby formula that lasted more than a year."

Free speech and universities

 At Stanford, recent event are helping us remember that our speech policy is the First Amendment.

That hasn't always been front of mind at Stanford, and now that it is, it is still distressing to see a student wearing a Hamas headband on campus, but it's worth remembering that freedom of speech is important, and important at universities. (The First Amendment is generally understood to also imply freedom of association, so you should feel free not to hire a Hamas supporter who graduates from Stanford.)

Here's the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Because the First Amendment only restricts government from abridging the freedom of speech, private universities (although not public ones) are entitled to have more restrictive speech codes.  But in California, the 1992 Leonard Law forbids private secular universities from restricting student speech  protected by the First Amendment.

In 1994, a court ruled (in the case of Corry v. Stanford) that a Stanford prohibition of certain "fighting words" when addressed to individuals violated the Leonard Law. Stanford's then president, Gerhard Casper, subsequently addressed the faculty senate, giving his thoughts on speech at a university:

Statement on Corry vs. Stanford University (by Gerhard Casper)

Here are his concluding sentences:

"Harassment, threats or intimidation continue to be unacceptable. Should they go beyond what is protected by law, we will invoke university disciplinary procedures. Otherwise, we shall continue to do what we always have done. We shall counter prejudice with reason. The work of reason is hard work, as is the work of building and maintaining a great private university. I invite all faculty, students and staff to continue the work of reason."

Matching markets and organ transplantation at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome on Monday

 I'm traveling this weekend to help inaugurate  the celebration of the 90th anniversary of Italy's Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Higher Institute of Health).  Below is their press release, which also notes that my talk will mark the 20th anniversary of the publication of my paper with Tayfun Sonmez and Utku Unver:

Roth, Alvin E., Tayfun Sonmez, and M. Utku Unver, "Kidney Exchange," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 119, 2, May, 2004, 457-488

Nobel Prize winner Alvin Roth opens the series of conferences dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the ISS

"Thanks to his work, 'crossover' kidney transplants are possible; next May 6th lectio magistralis in person and streaming.

"The cycle of scientific conferences that the Istituto Superiore di Sanità dedicates to the 90th anniversary of its foundation begins with a lectio magistralis by the Nobel Prize winner for economics Alvin Roth. On May 6th at 12.30 pm, Professor Roth, whose work has paved the way for the possibility of carrying out crossed kidney transplants between incompatible couples, will hold a keynote address entitled "Matching markets and organ transplantation".

"Exactly 20 years ago, in May 2004, Roth published "Kidney Exchange" in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (the oldest economic studies journal in the United States), the article in which the scholar exposed his "matching theory" by applying it to problem of compatibility between donor and recipient in living kidney transplantation and the need to find a sufficient number of donors for patients waiting for an organ. Roth demonstrated mathematically that, by cross-referencing the immunological data of all couples in which a healthy person wants to donate a kidney to a sick family member but cannot do so due to lack of compatibility, all patients could receive the organ they need. For his studies on stable allocations, defined by the Royal Swedish Academy as "a masterpiece of economic engineering", Roth was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2012.

"Starting from that first algorithm developed by Roth, today cross-kidney transplant programs between incompatible couples (called "crossover") have become a reality in many countries around the world: in Italy 132 transplants of this type have been carried out so far thanks to crossing of 85 pairs of donors and recipients, as part of a complex clinical and logistical program managed by the National Transplant Center which has so far involved 20 different hospitals. In 2023 alone there were 17 crossover transplants, of which 2 were carried out thanks to international exchange programmes: the first, last June, performed in Padua thanks to the crossing with two other Spanish couples, one in Bilbao and one in Barcelona, and the second in Vicenza, with an exchange organized with the Porto hospital.

"Professor Roth will hold his dissertation at the invitation of the National Transplant Center, the Galilean School of Higher Studies and the Department of Economic and Business Sciences of the University of Padua, the university at which the Stanford University economist will continue his series of conferences in Italy. The event, which will be held in the Pocchiari Hall of the Higher Institute of Health starting from 12.30, will be attended by Rocco Bellantone (president of the ISS), Giuseppe Feltrin (director of the National Transplant Center), Antonio Nicolò (professor of Economic Theory at the University of Padua) and Lucrezia Furian ( responsible for the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Surgery Unit - Department of Surgical, Oncological and Gastroenterological Sciences of the University Hospital of Padua).

"It will be possible to follow the event in person (the request for accreditation can be made to ufficio.stampa@iss.it) and in streaming on the Institute's home page."

Gambling addiction

 When gambling opportunities were rare and often illegal in the U.S., gambling addiction was a less visible problem than it is becoming today.

Here's a story from the NYT, about a sports news broadcaster who went to prison after pursuing fraudulent schemes to raise money to pay his gambling debts:

Saturday Mornings With the ‘Voice of Problem Gambling’  Craig Carton, the bombastic sports broadcaster, shows a different side on a weekly show that focuses on the stories of gambling addicts like himself.  By Zach Schonbrun

“There’s a preconceived notion of the kind of guy or gal that is a gambling addict,” Mr. Carton said. “And now you’re listening to schoolteachers and doctors and lawyers and first responders and librarians — normal people who went down a road never having any expectation of having a problem.”

...

"The show’s arrival coincided with an explosion in gambling as 38 states legalized sports betting. The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that 1 percent of U.S. adults meet the criteria for a gambling disorder, and that an additional 2 to 3 percent are “experiencing problems” due to “moderate” gambling behavior.

"That suggests that most Americans are capable of gambling responsibly, and Mr. Carton believed he could, too. He had gambled his whole life.

...

"The incident that he says “accelerated” his descent into problematic gambling didn’t come until 2014, when Mr. Carton, in his typical bombastic fashion, proclaimed on the air with Mr. Esiason that he could take $10,000 and turn it into $25,000 overnight playing blackjack. To his surprise, Mr. Esiason handed him $10,000 in cash a few weeks later during a special taping at the Borgata, a casino hotel in Atlantic City. Mr. Carton backed up his boast, winning $80,000 playing blackjack.

"But the seeds of compulsion were planted. Almost immediately, Mr. Carton began receiving calls from listeners eager to test his magic touch. Soon he was being handed duffel bags of cash and ushered into private parlors at casinos.

“That just gave me access to more money,” Mr. Carton said. “And when you’re already going down a road where you want to gamble all the time anyway, if you’re betting $100 a hand, and now you’re betting $1,000 a hand, you can’t go back to $100. It just became progressive.”

He won a lot, but at the rate he was going, the odds weren’t in his favor. Debts snowballed; then the federal agents arrived. The judge at his sentencing, Colleen McMahon, introduced herself to him as “Colleen from New York — first time, long time,” echoing a common phrase used by callers into WFAN’s shows. She then told Mr. Carton, “You have indeed descended into a hell of your own making.”

"Mr. Carton’s public disgrace resonated with Dan Trolaro, a former investment adviser for Prudential who spent four and a half years in state prison in New Jersey for stealing $1.9 million in client money. He had committed the thefts to feed an online gambling addiction.

"Mr. Trolaro went on to work for the nonprofit Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, which is the home of the 1-800-GAMBLER addiction hotline.

...

"On a recent Monday evening, Mr. Carton stood with a microphone in a lecture hall at the LaPenta School of Business at Iona University in New Rochelle, N.Y. For an hour, he implored the 40 or so students in attendance not to follow in his footsteps.

“I’m not here to tell you not to gamble,” he said. “But I am here to tell you that, if you allow it, gambling can ruin your life.”

"The event was presented by FanDuel, the largest online sports book in the country. Mr. Carton is on his second contract as the company’s paid ambassador for “responsible gaming,” a relationship that, he admits, carries the appearance of conflict with his efforts to combat addiction. He insists the arrangement allows him to carry his message to a wider audience."

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See also Gamblers Anonymous  https://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/

Menthol cigarettes get a reprieve

 The WSJ has the story:

Biden Administration Shelves Plan to Ban Menthol Cigarettes. White House had been weighing health benefit of ban against angering some Black voters   By Jennifer Maloney, Liz Essley Whyte, and Andrew Restuccia

"The Biden administration is reversing course on its plan to ban menthol cigarettes, after the White House weighed the potential public-health benefits of banning minty smokes against the political risk of angering some Black voters in an election year. 

...

Menthols account for more than a third of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. each year and are predominantly used by Black and Hispanic smokers. Some 81% of Black smokers used menthols in 2020, compared with 30% of white smokers and 51% of Hispanic smokers, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Some Black community leaders had fought the measure, saying a ban would expand the illicit market for cigarettes and lead police to racially profile Black smokers. The American Civil Liberties Union and some members of the Congressional Black Caucus expressed similar concerns.

...

"By contrast, Rep. Robin Kelly (D., Ill.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, said she was “deeply disappointed that the FDA has chosen to abandon its established plan to ban menthol cigarettes… This is a common-sense plan which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.”

"Political considerations have swayed the Biden administration’s thinking on this public-health issue, said Mitch Zeller, who served as director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products until 2022. “The science is clear that there will be a massive health benefit from removing menthol cigarettes,” he said."

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All my posts on menthol here.

Proposed age-adjusted smoking ban in the U.K.

 The BBC has the story, about a proposal to ban smoking for everyone currently under the age of 18. (What could go wrong?)

What is the UK smoking ban, how will it work and when will it start? By Aurelia Foster, BBC News

"Prime Minister Rishi Sunak effectively wants to ban smoking in the UK.

MPs have voted to back the government's plans to create a "smoke-free generation", and reduce the number of smoking-related deaths.

What is the smoking ban?

The restrictions will apply to the sale of cigarettes in the UK rather than the act of smoking itself.

Under the new law, each year the legal age for cigarette sales - currently 18 - will increase by one year.

It means that people born in or after 2009 will never be able to legally buy cigarettes, leading to an effective ban.

The law will not affect those who are allowed to buy cigarettes now.

To crack down on under-age sales, the government says it will introduce £100 on-the-spot fines for shops in England and Wales which sell tobacco and vapes to under-age people.

Local authorities will retain the proceeds to reinvest into enforcement of the law.

This would be on top of £2,500 fines that courts can already impose.

The government says it will spend £30m on enforcement, which will include tackling the availability of cigarettes on the black market.

The new rules will apply in all duty free shops in the UK, but anyone buying cigarettes abroad would be able to bring them back to the UK as long as they were legally acquired elsewhere.

The government aims to have the new system in force by 2027.

Mr Sunak wants to work with the governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to introduce the legislation across the UK."

HT: Oğuzhan Çelebi

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Earlier: 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

New Zealand repeals anti-smoking law that would have prevented tobacco sales to anyone born after 2008