A Nobel laureate 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. If youve ever sought a job or hired someone, applied to college or guided your child into a good kindergarten, asked someone out on a date or been asked out, youve participated in a kind of market. Most of the study of economics deals with commodity markets, where the price of a good connects sellers and buyers. But what about other kinds of goods, like a spot in the Yale freshman class or a position at Google? This is the territory of matching markets, where sellers and buyers must choose each other, and price isnt the only factor determining who gets what. Alvin E. Roth is one of the worlds leading experts on matching markets.
