Best of #econtwitter - Nobel 2020 special edition
Given the large quantity of good tweets on the topic of this year’s Nobel laureates, today we bring you a special edition of Beset of #Econtwitter newsletter.
Good threads
Auction prize:
1) some intellectual context, Roth and Wilson interview each other aeaweb.org/articles?id=10…
2) some historical context (shameless self-promotion) a prize for the importation of an engineering view into econ read.dukeupress.edu/hope/article-a… / papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… [draft]
Some notes on practical auctions vs auction theory
The year's 1959. The FCC allocates radio spectrum basically by soliciting applications and evaluating. Very discretionary process, also very time and resource intensive
One of my favorite things about Bob Wilson, co-winner of today's prize, is how gentle a giant he is, how modest yet understatedly charismatic and funny. This rare recording gives a sense.
1/5
found this thanks to @mariannollar
Besides his contributions to auction theory, Milgrom is one of the most important figures in modern organizational economics. His 1992 book with John Roberts, "Economics, Organizations, and Management," had a huge influence on the teaching of managerial economics. 1/
Kreps and Wilson introduced in 1982 the notion of “sequential equilibrium”, a way to select between different Nash equilibria in a game with sequential moves. 1/15
this is a hugely important notion taught in all grad schools
Another thing about Wilson—his mentoring record. Restricting attention to Nobel laureates, students he closely advised include Holmstrom, Milgrom, and Roth. I have heard that he also was also an important influence on Myerson. 1/2
@causalinf This from Al Roth's blog today is so wonderful.
marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2020/10/finall…
Links to longer summaries
New post: Operations Research and the Rise of Applied Game Theory: A Nobel for Milgrom and Wilson. It should go without saying that I consider this a well-deserved and overdue prize!
I couldn't be more thrilled for Milgrom and Wilson, this year's economics @NobelPrize laureates.
They've transformed auction theory and practice, literally bringing the field to life.
And they've inspired many economists worldwide -- including me.
Journalists out there. Paul Milgrom has the longest and most comprehensive Wikipedia page of any economist. Today was the day we worked on it for. Use it!
Here is an extremely useful (and totally non-technical) explanation of the contributions of Bob Wilson written by David Kreps.
Congratulations to Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson for their Nobel award! Here is the interview I did with Paul for The Art and Practice of Economics Research (@Stanford, @StanfordGSB, @SIEPR, @Susan_Athey)
How to explain to your non-econ friends
Robert Wilson – awarded this year’s Prize in Economic Sciences – showed why rational bidders tend to place bids below their own best estimate of the common value: they are worried about the winner’s curse – that is, about paying too much and losing out.
#NobelPrize
“Auction theory” is going to sound very obscure to most people but these guys came up with the auction format the FCC (and now lots of other regulators) use to auction off radio spectrum, one of the big underpinnings of the modern mobile economy. https://t.co/Hg3Fuzvh0N
The Nobel Prize @NobelPrize
My daughter asked what Milgrom and Wilson did to win the Nobel prize. I decided to see if I could explain it using the 1,000 most common words.
Non-economics but still good
.@tylercowen's post (marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolu…) on Paul Milgrom mentions Paul met his wife while seated next to her at a previous Nobel Prize dinner. The full story, as I heard them recount once, is pretty great: 1/
Just read somewhere
Wilson, speaking via phone to an audience in Stockholm, initially struggled to think of an auction that he had participated in, but then said. “My wife points out to me that we bought ski boots on eBay. I guess that was an auction.”
Cute! https://t.co/DFyG6XWe16
The Nobel Prize @NobelPrize
The #NobelPrize committee couldn't reach Paul Milgrom to share the news that he won, so his fellow winner and neighbor Robert Wilson knocked on his door in the middle of the night.
^recommended