Markets and Coordination by Preston McAfee and Simon Wilkie

A high level overview of market design:

Teaching Old Markets New Tricks (gated, in Project Syndicate, Jan 23, 2020)

(ungated version:  Markets and Coordination)
by Preston McAfee  and Simon Wilkie

"Left: Markets are not delivering the results people need. Let the government run it.

Right: Markets created the giant increase in living standards we enjoy. Leave the market alone.

"Both positions are right – and wrong. Yes, market forces created the vast wealth of the western nations, and China shows what market forces can accomplish in two generations. At the same time, the way markets operate doesn’t necessarily produce the greatest good for the greatest number, and in some cases, such as pollution, laissez faire markets produce terrible outcomes.

"Market Design is a way of having your cake and eating it, too. Market design involves harnessing and directing market forces to produce socially desirable outcomes. It responds to Left by accepting that an unregulated market may produce undesirable outcomes, and adjusts the rules of competition to improve the outcome. It responds to Right by embracing market forces. "