Mechanism Design

Eric Maskin, Albert O. Hirschman Professor, School of Social Science. Eric Maskin shared the 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work in Mechanism Design Theory. This is the study of how, given an economic or social goal, we can design a procedure or institution (that is, a mechanism) for achieving that goal. In this lecture, he gives an introduction to mechanism design using several simple examples. The lecture is nontechnical and suitable for a general audience.