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PROGRAM

Please join us as we welcome Nobel laureate Alvin E. Roth to Roosevelt House to introduce his new book, Who Gets What – and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design, in which he reveals the often surprising rules that govern a vast array of activities – both mundane and life-changing – in which money may play little or no role.
In his talk, Roth will explore how each of us, in the variety of our daily activities, is involved in a kind of market — if you’ve ever sought a job or hired someone, applied to college or guided your child into a good kindergarten, or even if you’ve asked someone out on a date or been asked out. Most of the study of economics deals with commodity markets, where the price of a good connects sellers and buyers. But Roth will explain how the market affects other kinds of “goods,” such as a spot in the Yale freshman class or a job at Google. In the territory of matching markets, “sellers” and “buyers” must choose each other. In this kind of market, price isn’t the only factor determining who gets what.
Roth, the McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University and co-recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics, is one of the world’s leading experts on matching markets — and he has designed several of them, including the exchange that places medical students in residencies and the system that increases the number of kidney transplants by better matching donors to patients.
At Roosevelt House Roth will discuss the ways in which matching markets are hidden around us — and how to recognize a good match and make smarter, more confident decisions. He will be joined in conversation by Michael M. Weinstein, chief program officer for the Robin Hood Foundation. Karna Basu, Associate Professor of Economics at Hunter College will make introductory remarks.