Alvin E. Roth facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Alvin Roth
Alvin E. Roth in Stockholm 2012
Born	Alvin Eliot Roth (1951-12-18) December 18, 1951 (age 73) New York City, New York, U.S.

Institution	Stanford University Harvard University University of Pittsburgh
Field	Game theory, market design, experimental economics
Doctoral advisor	Robert B. Wilson
Doctoral students	Muriel Niederle Georg Weizsäcker Parag Pathak Fuhito Kojima
Contributions	Market design
Awards	Frederick W. Lanchester Prize (1990) Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2012) Golden Goose Award (2013) Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2013)
Information at IDEAS / RePEc

Alvin Eliot Roth (born December 18, 1951) is an American professor who studies economics. He teaches economics at Stanford University and used to teach at Harvard University. In 2017, he was the head of the American Economic Association.

Roth has done important work in areas like game theory, market design, and experimental economics. He is known for using economic ideas to solve real-world problems.

In 2012, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Lloyd Shapley. They won for their work on how to make "stable allocations" and for their ideas on "market design."

About Alvin Roth
His Economic Work
Teaching
Personal Life
Books
See Also

About Alvin Roth

Al Roth, Sydney Ideas lecture 2012

Alvin Roth was born in New York City. His parents were both high school teachers. He went to special science classes at Columbia University on Saturdays while still in junior high and high school.

He started college at Columbia when he was 16, even before finishing high school. In 1971, he earned a bachelor's degree in Operations Research from Columbia. He then went to Stanford University, where he earned his Master's degree in 1973 and his PhD in 1974, both in Operations Research.

After Stanford, Roth taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. In 1982, he moved to the University of Pittsburgh. He also taught at the business school there. In 1998, Roth joined Harvard University, where he taught until 2012. He then returned to Stanford.

Roth has received many honors, including being a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2013, he, Lloyd Shapley, and David Gale won a Golden Goose Award. This award recognizes research that has had a big impact on society.

His Economic Work

In October 2012, Alvin Roth shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The prize was given for his work on "stable allocations" and "market design."

The Nobel committee said that Roth understood how Shapley's ideas could help real markets. Roth showed that "stability" is key to how well markets work. He also used experiments to prove this. He helped improve systems for matching doctors with hospitals, students with schools, and organ donors with patients. These improvements are based on a special algorithm (a set of rules) that helps make fair matches.

What is Market Design?

Market design is about creating rules and systems for markets to work better. It helps people find good matches, like students with schools or patients with organ donors. Roth says that as markets change, the rules also need to change.

Roth also writes a blog about market design.

Kidney Exchange

Roth did important work on kidney exchange. This helps people who need a kidney transplant but have a donor who isn't a match for them. It allows them to swap donors with other pairs in a similar situation.

For example, if a wife wants to donate to her husband but they have different blood types, they can find another couple. The wife might donate to the other husband, and the other wife might donate to her husband. This way, both patients get a kidney.

Roth helped start the New England Program for Kidney Exchange. This program helps find compatible kidney donors and recipients. In 2008, a very large kidney exchange happened with 12 people (6 donors and 6 recipients).

Roth also introduced the idea of "global kidney exchange." This is when kidney exchanges happen between patients in different countries. This can help more people get transplants, especially if it's cheaper to do the transplant than long-term dialysis. In 2015, the first global kidney exchange took place. Roth has also worked on ethical questions about organ donation.

School Choice

Roth helped improve how students are matched to high schools in New York City and primary schools in Boston.

New York City Schools

Before Roth's work, students in New York City would list their top five schools. Schools could see if they were a student's first choice. This meant students might not list their true favorite school. Roth and his team suggested using a "deferred acceptance algorithm." This system helps make sure students are matched fairly and honestly. The school board accepted this new system in 2003.

Boston Schools

Roth also helped Boston's public school system. Their old system often left students unmatched if they didn't get their first or second choice. This meant students were just assigned to any school with open spots. In 2005, Boston also adopted the "deferred acceptance algorithm" to improve fairness.

Doctor Residency Match

Roth also helped improve the system that matches new medical school graduates with hospitals for their residency training. This system, called the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), helps doctors find training spots and hospitals find new doctors.

In the 1990s, Roth updated the program to work better, especially for married couples. The new system was adopted in 1997 and is still used today. It has also been used for other job markets, like for psychology internships.

Organ Donation Decisions

Roth has studied what makes people decide to donate organs. He found that if people know they might get priority on a waiting list if they've registered as a donor, more people sign up. He also found that giving people more chances to donate and more information can increase registrations.

Job Market for Economists

In 2005, Roth helped improve the job market for new economics PhDs. He helped create two tools:

Signaling Service: Job seekers can send "signals" to show special interest in up to two employers. This helps employers know who is most interested in their jobs.
Scramble Website: Later in the hiring process, if some jobs are still open or some candidates are still looking, they can use a "scramble" website to find each other.

These tools have helped more people get interviews and more jobs get filled.

Market Timing

Roth has studied how the timing of transactions affects markets. For example, he looked at how people bid on eBay. He found that many bids happen in the very last seconds of an auction. This is because eBay's old system with a fixed ending time encouraged bidders to wait. He showed how auctions can be designed to prevent this "sniping."

Repugnance in Markets

Roth has explored the idea of "repugnance" in economics. This means when people dislike certain types of transactions, even if everyone involved benefits. For example, some people might feel uncomfortable with the idea of paying someone for an organ donation, even if it could save a life. Roth believes understanding these feelings is important for designing markets. He has written a lot about the ethical side of kidney exchange and paying organ donors.

Experimental Economics

Roth was one of the first to use experiments to study economics. He uses lab experiments to see how people actually behave in economic situations. He showed how experiments can help us understand economic theories better.

For example, he studied how people bargain. He found that things like how much information people have and how they communicate can change how bargaining turns out. He also studied bargaining in different countries and found that people often reach similar outcomes in markets.

Game Theory

Roth has made important contributions to Game theory. This is a field that studies how people make decisions when their choices affect others.

He worked on the "Shapley Value," which helps figure out how much each player contributes to a group effort. He also studied "bargaining theory," which looks at how people reach agreements.

Roth has also done a lot of work on "matching theory." This is about how to match people or things together in the best way. For example, he showed that in markets where people trade things they already own (like houses), there's only one fair way to match everyone. He also showed that the "deferred acceptance" system used in school choice and doctor matching is fair and encourages people to be honest about their preferences.

Teaching

Roth has taught many economics courses. With Paul Milgrom, he taught one of the first graduate courses on "Market Design." This course helped start the whole field of market design.

He has advised many students who have gone on to become successful economists. He has also received teaching awards from several universities.

Personal Life

Roth is married to Dr. Emilie Roth, who is a psychologist. They have two sons. His older son, Aaron Roth, is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. His younger son, Ben Roth, is a professor at Harvard Business School.

Books

Roth has written many articles and books. Some of his books include:

1979. Axiomatic Models of Bargaining.
1985. Game-Theoretic Models of Bargaining. (editor)
1987. Laboratory Experimentation in Economics: Six Points of View. (editor)
1988. The Shapley Value: Essays in Honor of Lloyd S. Shapley. (editor)
1990. Two-Sided Matching: A Study in Game-Theoretic Modeling and Analysis. With Marilda Sotomayor.
1995. Handbook of Experimental Economics. Edited with J.H. Kagel.
2001. Game Theory in the Tradition of Bob Wilson. Edited with Bengt Holmstrom and Paul Milgrom.
2015. Who Gets What and Why.