Tim Roughgarden(@Tim_Roughgarden):Here's a wide-ranging conversation (medical residents, kidneys, middle schools, refugees, surrogacy, ...) with Al Roth, one of the all-time greats of applying economic theory to improve lives. Co-hosted with @skominers, part of the First Principles mini-series @a16zcrypto. Outline: 00:00 Intro: Why market design matters 04:18 The economist as engineer 08:09 When theory meets the real world 07:02 Fixing the medical residency match 15:32 Why markets unravel 18:22 Redesigning NYC high school admissions 28:05 The hidden problem of congestion 34:47 How kidney exchange saves lives 45:26 How the internet changed market design 48:25 Airbnb, Uber and smarter marketplaces 51:28 Repugnant transactions and moral economics 53:32 When markets need social support 54:32 The unexpected effects of criminalizing surrogacy 01:04:58 Preference signals and the job market 01:18:53 A broken market: resettling refugees and other migrants link to full video:

2026.07.14 13:48

Here's a wide-ranging conversation (medical residents, kidneys, middle schools, refugees, surrogacy, ...) with Al Roth, one of the all-time greats of applying economic theory to improve lives. Co-hosted with @skominers, part of the First Principles mini-series @a16zcrypto. Outline: 00:00 Intro: Why market design matters 04:18 The economist as engineer 08:09 When theory meets the real world 07:02 Fixing the medical residency match 15:32 Why markets unravel 18:22 Redesigning NYC high school admissions 28:05 The hidden problem of congestion 34:47 How kidney exchange saves lives 45:26 How the internet changed market design 48:25 Airbnb, Uber and smarter marketplaces 51:28 Repugnant transactions and moral economics 53:32 When markets need social support 54:32 The unexpected effects of criminalizing surrogacy 01:04:58 Preference signals and the job market 01:18:53 A broken market: resettling refugees and other migrants link to full video: