Matching and Price Theory - The Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics

May 6–7, 2011

This conference brought together market designers together with price theorists to discuss linkages between their fields.The conference highlighted new work and provided opportunities for group engagement and discussion.

Friday's sessions showcased recently-discovered relationships between matching theory and price theory, including connections between (matching-theoretic) stability and competitive pricing. Price-theoretic market design innovations, both econometric and theoretical, were presented.

On Saturday, conference participants explored theoretical and empirical evidence on the importance of marketplace design.This discussion concluded with a panel featuring Gary Becker, James Heckman, Paul Milgrom, and Alvin Roth fielding questions from the audience.

The steering committee organizing the conference included: Gary Becker, Eric Budish, Jeremy Fox, James Heckman, Scott Duke Kominers, Roger Myerson, Philip Reny, Alvin Roth, and Robert Shimer.

Speakers and schedule details are available here. (.pdf)

Papers Presented

Friday, May 6

“The College Admissions Problem with a Continuum of Students”

  • Eduardo Azevedo (Harvard University)
  • Video

“Stability and Competitive Equilibrium in Trading Networks”

  • Scott Kominers (Harvard University)
  • Discussion led by Eric Budish (University of Chicago)
  • Video

“Sorting and Factor Intensity: Production and Unemployment across Skills”

  • Philipp Kircher (London School of Economics)
    Discussion led by Sonia Jaffe (Harvard)
  • Video

“Hedonic Price Equilibria, Stable Matching, and Optimal Transport: Equivalence, Topology, and Uniqueness”

  • Pierre-André Chiappori (Columbia University) and Robert McCann (University of Toronto)
  • Video

“Unobserved Heterogeneity in Matching Games”

  • Jeremy Fox (University of Michigan)
    Discussion led by Ariel Pakes (Harvard University)
  • Video

“Strategyproofness for ‘Price Takers’ as a Desideratum for Market Design”

  • Eric Budish (University of Chicago)
    Discussion led by John Hatfield (Stanford University)
  • Video

Saturday, May 7

“Decentralized Matching with Aligned Preferences”

“Market vs. Design:  Congestion and Evaluation Costs”

  • Ilya Segal (Stanford University)
    Discussion led by Alvin Roth (Harvard University)
  • Video

Panel and Audience Discussion on Open Questions

Matching and Price Theory