Textbook markets are an abstraction. Real-world markets are explicitly designed. Many of the world’s most exciting and innovative companies have designed marketplaces as a central part of their business: Amazon, Apple, Google, AirBNB, Uber. Much of finance takes place through designed markets: stock exchanges, futures markets, over-the-counter markets, blockchains. Even dating apps involve market design.
This class will cover the key economic principles behind market design and will challenge students to invent ways to make markets work better.
Some of the specific topics we will cover include auction design, matching markets, platform economics, financial markets, cryptocurrencies, and reputation systems.
The class will feature a mix of lectures and case studies.
