Alex Tabarrok reviews Al Roth‘s new book, Who Gets What — and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design, in the Wall Street Journal. An excerpt:
Most economic theory focuses on commodity markets, in which anyone willing to pay the price gets the good and anyone not willing to pay the price doesn’t. In matching markets, price isn’t the only determinant of who gets what. Willingness to pay the price is one determinant of who gets into Harvard but not the only one. Willingness to accept a certain wage is one part of who gets a job but not the only one. In some cases, such as assigning kidneys to dialysis patients, price isn’t part of the equation at all—at least in the United States.
Mr. Roth’s work has been to discover the most efficient and equitable methods of matching and implement them in the world. He writes with verve and style, describing many market malfunctions—from aboriginal tribes in Australia arranging marriages for children not yet born to judges bending every rule in the book to hire law clerks years before they have graduated from law school—and how we ought to think about them.
Mr. Roth’s approach contrasts with standard debates over free markets versus government regulation. We want markets to be thick, quick, timely and trustworthy, but without careful design markets can become thin, slow, ill-timed and dangerous for the honest. The solution to these problems is unlikely to be regulation legislated from on high. Instead what Mr. Roth practices is nuanced market design created mostly by market participants.
We have discussed Roth’s work and market design topics many times here at Knowledge Problem (link to links). Tabarrok mentions the review at Marginal Revolution. Al Roth’s Market Design blog is here.
NOTE: If the WSJ link does not work for you, here is a link to review on the Mercatus website.