NBER workshop on Market Design, Stanford, Oct 16-17, call for papers

 Here's the call for papers for the NBER workshop on market design, at Stanford in October.

"To: NBER Market Design Working Group

From: Michael Ostrovsky and Eric Budish

 The National Bureau of Economic Research workshop on Market Design is a forum to discuss new academic research related to the design of market institutions, broadly defined. The next meeting will be held in Stanford, California on October 16 & 17, 2026.  We are planning for an in-person only meeting. There will not be an option to attend virtually.

 We welcome new and interesting research and are happy to see papers from a variety of fields.  Participants in the past meeting covered a range of topics and methodological approaches. Last year's program can be viewed at:

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nber.org/conferences/market-design-working-group-meeting-fall-2025__;!!G92We9drHetJ8EofZw!dlT9ZZcoCaeO7GqTUkKgKVVgvGpB5MDHs3RNvyJj9679UKlOmu2AuKoOlSYuYRe1c8QYnkLCcm9R5cJtdME$

 

The conference does not publish proceedings or issue NBER working papers - most of the presented papers are presumed to be published later in journals.

 

We would appreciate it if you could pass this call for papers on to colleagues who might be interested, but who may not be on the Bureau's mailing list. Submissions are welcome from researchers with and without NBER affiliations and from researchers at all career stages.

 

If you are interested in presenting a paper this year, please upload a PDF version by midnight EDT on August 23, 2026, to this link:

 https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://conference.nber.org/confsubmit/backend/cfp?id=MDf26__;!!G92We9drHetJ8EofZw!dlT9ZZcoCaeO7GqTUkKgKVVgvGpB5MDHs3RNvyJj9679UKlOmu2AuKoOlSYuYRe1c8QYnkLCcm9RUJB5pBU$

 Preference will be given to papers for which at least a preliminary draft is ready by the time of submission. Only authors of accepted papers will be contacted.

 Unfortunately, the NBER cannot cover the travel costs or hotel expenses of participants.

 There are a limited number of spaces available for graduate students to attend the conference, though we cannot cover their costs. Please email ostrovsky@stanford.edu and eric.budish@chicagobooth.edu  a short nominating paragraph.

 Please forward this announcement to any potentially interested scholars. We look forward to hearing from you."

How heart transplants gave birth to brain death (new book by Basil Baccouche)

 Basil Baccouche has a forthcoming book, which I found pretty thrilling:

The End of Death: A Surgeon, a Heart Transplant, and the Fight to Change What It Means to Die

 

Here's my blurb for the book:

 “Basil Baccouche is a new star in the constellation of physicians who write. The End of Death tells the gripping story of a tireless doctor (Norman Shumway), a drug (cyclosporine), and a law (recognizing brain death) that combined to make heart transplants one of the miracles of modern medicine.” 

Deceased-donor initiated kidney exchange chaiins in Italy, after six years

 Kidney exchange in Italy is now making good use of deceased-donor initiated chains.

 

American Journal of Transplantation

Available online 10 August 2026

In Press, Journal Pre-proof

Original Article

Integrating Deceased and Living Donation: Six-Year Outcomes of the Italian Deceased-Donor–Initiated Kidney Paired Exchange (DEC-K) Program

Author links open overlay panel, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , …

 ABSTRACT
Using a deceased donor (DD) to initiate living-donor (LD) exchange chains can expand access to kidney transplantation in recipients with an HLA or ABO incompatible living donor. The Italian DD-initiated Kidney Paired Exchange (DEC-K) program uses a DD kidney to start a chain among incompatible pairs, ultimately returning a LD kidney to the waiting list. We report the first long-term analysis of this approach worldwide. All DEC-K chains performed in Italy between March 2018 and May 2025 were analyzed. Thirty-four chains generated 84 transplants (34 chain initiating kidneys CIK, 22 from LD, 28 chain-ending kidneys CEK) versus 17 transplants from conventional Kidney Paired Donation (KPD) program in the same period. Five-year outcomes were similar between CIK and LD recipients (eGFR slope: −2.0 mL/min/1.73m2/year, P=0.37; graft survival: log-rank P=0.28). While this approach diverts blood-group O DD kidneys from the general waiting list, potentially affecting non-sensitized candidates, it was designed to address the unmet needs of highly sensitized patients facing years of waiting. In the Italian setting, the DEC-K program successfully initiates LD chains from DD kidneys with outcomes equivalent to LD transplant; implementation should include monitoring of blood-group-specific outcomes and flexible design to accommodate healthcare system priorities.

... 

 "DISCUSSION
The six-year DEC-K experience demonstrates that DD-initiated KPD chains are highly effective in small national pools such as Italy’s, which include about 70 incompatible pairs at a time. Because closed-loop exchanges rarely provide enough matches, especially for blood group O or highly sensitized recipients, open chains initiated by DDs can convert a single graft into multiple sequential transplants without simultaneous multi-center surgery. In our program, 34 DDs generated 84 transplants, corresponding to a threefold increase compared to conventional loops in the Italian KPD. Broader enrollment could further enhance impact, although participation remains limited by concerns about receiving a DD kidney while the paired LD proceeds, underscoring the need for transparent counseling and clear communication about outcomes and equity.
The rationale for DEC-K aligns with models proposed by Melcher and later implemented by Furian, in which a SCD kidney is allocated to an incompatible pair whose LD subsequently donates to another recipient, propagating the chain21, 23, 29. Similar donor-driven chains were pioneered in the United States, where Rees demonstrated that a single altruistic donor could initiate a ten-transplant sequence14. Mathematical modeling by Wang et al.23 supports this approach, showing that allocating just 2-3% of DD to initiate KPD chains could generate several hundred additional transplants annually, with maximum benefit for highly sensitized and blood-group O candidates23. In countries with rare or restricted altruistic donation and small KPD pools, such as Italy, DD initiation is the only practical way to generate compatible matches. Over the past decade, only ten non-directed donors enabled 30 transplants and unlocked 21 incompatible pairs, substantially fewer than DEC-K.

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Earlier: 

Monday, April 11, 2016  Using deceased donor kidneys to start living donor kidney exchange chains