The Theory of Market Design

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course will provide an introduction to social choice, two-sided matching, house allocation, school choice, and the recent theoretical developments in kidney exchange. We will develop formal, mathematical language to evaluate and compare different mechanisms including deferred acceptance, top trading cycles, the probabilistic serial mechanism and others. Our approach will be axiomatic; we will explore the tradeoff between the efficiency, incentive compatibility and fairness in the design of mechanisms. This course will be proof-based, so is appropriate for advanced students acquainted with formal mathematical reasoning.