Roth Alvin E
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Harv Bus Rev. 2007 Oct;85(10):118-26, 166.
Traditionally, markets have been viewed as simply the confluence of supply and demand. But to function properly, they must be able to attract a sufficient number of buyers and sellers, induce participants to make their preferences clear, and overcome congestion by providing both enough time to make choices and a speedy means of registering them. Solutions to these challenges are the province of market design--a blend of game theory and experimental economics. Roth, a professor of both business and economics at Harvard, is a leading market designer. He and his colleagues have rescued failing markets by, for example, designing labor clearinghouses through which U.S. doctors get their first jobs and auctions through which the Federal Communications Commission sells licenses for parts of the radio broadcast spectrum. They have also created marketlike allocation procedures that involve neither prices nor an exchange of money; these include systems for assigning children to schools in Boston and New York and for facilitating exchanges of kidneys. Computers enable the design of "smart markets" that combine the inputs of users in complex ways: In kidney exchange, they run through every possible match of donors and recipients to arrange the greatest possible number of transplants. In the future, computers may make it possible to auction bundled goods, such as airport takeoff and landing slots. As online markets--like those for jobs and dating--proliferate, a growing understanding of markets in general will provide virtually limitless opportunities for market design.
传统上，市场仅仅被视为供求的交汇点。但要正常运作，市场必须能够吸引足够数量的买卖双方，促使参与者表明自己的偏好，并通过提供足够的选择时间和快速的登记方式来克服拥堵。应对这些挑战的解决方案属于市场设计的范畴——这是博弈论与实验经济学的结合。罗斯是哈佛商学院和经济系的教授，是一位杰出的市场设计者。他和他的同事们拯救了陷入困境的市场，例如，设计了劳动力清算所，美国医生通过它获得第一份工作；设计了拍卖机制，联邦通信委员会通过它出售部分无线电广播频谱的许可证。他们还创建了既不涉及价格也不涉及货币交换的类似市场的分配程序；这些程序包括波士顿和纽约的学校分配系统以及肾脏交换促进系统。计算机使得设计“智能市场”成为可能，这些市场以复杂的方式整合用户的输入信息：在肾脏交换中，它们会遍历捐赠者和接受者的每一种可能匹配，以安排尽可能多的移植手术。未来，计算机或许能实现捆绑商品的拍卖，比如机场的起降时段。随着在线市场（如求职和交友市场）的激增，对市场的更深入理解将为市场设计提供几乎无限的机会。
