2007 Nobel in Economics: Designing Better Markets(1/2)

Many things perform effectively but not efficiently. To be efficient means to produce a desired effect with as little waste as possible. How can markets be designed to make them more efficient? This is a question that the three winners of this year's Nobel Prize in economics have tried to answer. They established mechanism design theory.

It began with work by Leonid Hurwicz of the University of Minnesota in nineteen sixty. Eric Maskin of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and Roger Myerson of the University of Chicago further developed it. The three Americans will share the award worth about one and a half million dollars. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winners this week.

In everyday life, there are many things that get in the way of efficient markets. There may not be true competition. Buyers and sellers may keep some information private from each other. Also, the production and use of goods may result in outcomes like pollution or social costs.

Mechanism design theory permits economists to identify situations where markets work well and where they do not. For example, it shows why an auction is generally the most efficient way to sell many kinds of goods.

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许多事情做的时候会有效果，但并无效率。 有效率意味着尽可能的少浪费而产生想要的结果。如何设计会使得市场更能产生效率呢？这是今年的3名诺贝尔经济学奖获得者尝试回答的问题。他们建立了机制设计理论。

最初是由明尼苏达大学的Leonid Hurwicz 在1960年提出的。在新泽西州普林斯顿的高级研究院的Eric Maskin 和芝加哥大学的Roger Myerson 对其作了进一步的研究。这三名美国人将分享奖价值约150万美元的奖金。在本周瑞典皇家科学院宣布获奖者。

在日常生活中，有很多事情会阻碍有效的市场。这有可能并不是真正的竞争。买家和卖家可以互相保留一些私人信息。此外，产品和使用的货物，可能导致像污染或社会成本的一些问题。

机制设计理论允许经济学家来确定的市场运作的好坏情况。例如，它可以表明为什么拍卖通常是销售许多种物品的最有效的方式。