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Al Roth

@alroth.bsky.social
3.6K followers 168 following 859 posts

My market design blog: marketdesigner.blogspot.com Forthcoming in May: Moral Economics www.amazon.com/Moral-Economics-Pros…

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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 12h
The NY Times has a story about the complicated life and busy career of NYU transplant surgeon Bob Montgomery, who is also a transplant recipient. #medicine marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/bob-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Bob Montgomery, transplant surgeon and transplant recipient, in the NYT
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Here's the announcement of a new prize, initially to be awarded for work in the social sciences, reflecting the fact that social science can be politically contentious. The Carob Trust Prize for Academic Courage #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
The Carob Trust Prize for Academic Courage: An award for scientists who overcome unjustified attacks on their work
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This headline already conveys a lot about the economics of tradeoffs: “Ukraine weighs legalizing pornography to raise tax revenue and buy drones” #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/ukra...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Ukraine weighs legalizing pornography to raise tax revenue and buy drones
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The new English language journal Madina: Journal of Islamic Law has a literature review of the Iranian kidney market. (It only reviewed papers published in English.) Its conclusion is that the market aligns with the goals of Islamic law. #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/iran...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Iran's kidney market, reviewed in Al-Madina: Journal of Islamic Law
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Affordability
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
“We conduct research in countries across the globe on organ buying, selling, the organisation of illegal transplants and law enforcement responses. We also explore alternative measures such as allowing financial rewards for organ donation.” #econsky #crime marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/orga...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Organ trafficking research
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The hosts of the podcast Behavioral Grooves open by chatting about heroin and hitmen, followed by a discussion among the three of us #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/hero...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Heroin, hitmen and black markets on Behavioral Grooves
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Here's the first commercial translation I've seen of my book Moral Economics. The title in Korean is 금지된 거래의 경제학도덕과 시장은 공존할 수 있는가, The Economics of Forbidden Transactions: Can Morality and Markets Coexist? #econsky #korea #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/mora...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Moral Economics in Korean
I post market design related news and items about repugnant markets. See my Stanford profile. I have a 2026 book : Moral Economics The subtitle is "From Prostitution to Organ Sales, What Controversial Transactions Reveal About How Markets Work."
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The secret of building a good school is to have good students. that can lead to conflicts between the desire to build better school systems to serve children in the aggregate, and the desire to put your child in the best school for him or her. #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/scho...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
School choice: peer effects and social justice
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
That there is life after tenure-denial is robustly proclaimed and manifested by Emily Oster, in an interview by Mary Childs on her podcast Mary in America. #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/ther...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
There's life after tenure denial: Emily Oster (on Mary in America)
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Yan Chen wins the 2026 Market Design Impact Award "For pioneering behavioral market design-combining theory, digital experiments, and large-scale field experiments-with lasting impact on the practice of market design” #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/mark...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Market Design Impact Award to Yan Chen
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I'm shaken to learn that Greg Segal has temporarily suspended his registration as a potential deceased organ donor. My registration remains active, but I'm watching with attention the regulatory and other reforms for deceased donation in the U.S. #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-pa...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
A passionate proponent of transplants is (temporarily) unregistered as a donor: Greg Segal in the NYT
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Michael Kremer, one of the most creative and dedicated economists of our time, has found his next act, at the World Bank. (Sometimes the news is encouraging, even nowadays.) #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/mich...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Micheal Kremer's next (post-Nobel) Act: The World Bank
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Are robots (and robot cars) repugnant? #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/woul...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Would Jesus like Waymo?
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The single most important quality in a great researcher is to be lucky, and to find topics that are worth working on and that yield to investigation." #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
"The single most important quality in a great researcher is to be lucky"
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The debate over how to regulate, promote, and defend against new developments in A.I. has taken a market design turn, with increased calls for regulation. This looks to President Trump like an easy problem, already solved. #econsky #ai marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/ai-g...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
A.I. guardrails: Trump Says “a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT" is all that’s needed to rein in A.I.
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Lawsuits about application tools for medical residencies #econsky #medicine marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/cong...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Congestion (and lawsuits) in applications for medical residency
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
As LLMs become increasingly important, we're seeing experiments that explore their behavior. (I expect Susan Calvin, Asimov's fictional robopsychologist from the1950 collection I Robot, will soon have scientists following in her footsteps.) #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/expe...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Experimenting on the psychology of LLMs
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Here's the preliminary program for the October NBER Market Design Working Group Meeting at Stanford #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/nber...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
NBER Market Design Working Group Meeting, October at Stanford, Preliminary program
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“Europeans think of Americans’ enthusiasm for paid surrogacy the way we regard their fondness for guns and capital punishment: inexplicable. The piquant difference, however, is that surrogacy is a cause of the American left rather than the right.” #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/surr...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Surrogacy (on each side of the Atlantic)
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Transplants of organs from pigs to humans is making progress, but pig organs haven't yet survived long enough to substitute for human organs. if pig organs can last long enough, they might first replace dialysis. #econsky #medicine #xenotransplants marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/xeno...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Xenotransplants will substitute for dialysis before they replace human kidney transplants
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Wollman: in the highly concentrated dialysis market, in which prices are mostly federally regulated, mergers reduce competition on quality. #econsky #medicine marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/how-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
How to Get Away with Merger in a Dialysis Duopoly by T.G. Wollman
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Here's tomorrow's conference agenda the Redefining Health Care in the Age of A.I. conference in Paris. Philippe Aghion will speak on "Should we fear AI?" My talk is about "Computational Intelligence and Organ Allocation on a Global Scale." #econsky #ai marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/ai-i...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
A.I. in health care in Paris
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I'm in Paris, for the conference Redefining Healthcare in the Age of A.I. #ai marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/rede...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Redefining Healthcare in the Age of A.I., Paris, Sept 8-10
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Organizations promoting living kidney donation (a very partial list) #econsky #kidney marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/hhs-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
HHS Announces Winners of the 2026 Prize Challenge to Advance Living Kidney Donation
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Privacy while driving seems to be more important than privacy while surfing the internet, to judge from recent reactions to automated license-plate readers produced by the company Flock Safety. #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/priv...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Privacy, A.I. and the backlash against Flock license-plate readers
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Session 18: Psychology and Economics at Stanford SITE Thu, Sep 3 2026, 8:00am - Fri, Sep 4 2026, 7:00pm PDT #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/psyc...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Psychology and Economics at Stanford SITE: Sept 3-4 (Program)
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Jordi Brandts celebrated in Barcelona, together with the 40th anniversary of the Economic Science Association #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/the-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
The Economic Science Association celebrates its 40th anniversary, and Jordi Brandts, in Barcelona
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Some policies sound obviously right when judged by their intentions. But what happens when you judge them by their actual consequences? #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/09/thre...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Three takeaways on Moral Economics, with Lynn Thoman
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
here's a paper that caught my eye in the ASSA Preliminary Program in January in a session by the Association of Christian Economists Can Market Design Make Us More Free? …from the Perspective of Theological Anthropology #econsky #academicsky #religion marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/mark...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Market design from the Perspective of Theological Anthropology, by Christina McRorie (in the January 2027 ASSA program)
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Trump's renaming Lake Ontario got me thinking about Woody Guthrie’s song This Land Is Your Land. LLMs proposed these Trump versions: This Land Is My Brand by Gemini, This Gulf Is My Gulf by Claude, This map is my map, by Chat GPT #America marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/this...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
This Land is My Brand: From Woody Guthrie to DJ Trump
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I just received William Thomson's excellent new book: A Guide for the Young Economist. “Thomson, a renowned teacher, explains the invisible curriculum for becoming an academic economist, from pursuing a PhD to approaching tenure.” #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/just...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Advice for young academic economists, by William Thomson
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The Gray Area podcast on controversial markets and Moral Economics #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
The Gray Area, on Moral Economics and controversial markets
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
A.I. solves the trolley problem www.newyorker.com/gallery/cart...
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The US is a destination for people needing assisted reproductive technology (ART) to have a child, often because it is unavailable in their home country. But American ART is expensive, so some Americans are traveling abroad for the sake of ART. #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/reve...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Reverse fertility tourism--Americans traveling abroad for more affordable IVF
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Axel Ockenfels interviewed on market design. Q: “In your opinion, which major societal challenge could be solved more effectively if we designed markets, platforms, and incentives more intelligently? A: “Almost any…” #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/axel...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Axel Ockenfels, interviewed about market design
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Legal and black markets for marijuana in Germany: Despite the partial legalisation, more than half of weed consumers do not rely on medical prescriptions to get the drug. #econsky #germany marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/regu...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Regulated and black market marijuana in Germany
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Reposted by Al Roth
Vincent Meisner @vincentmeisner.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This is insane: "Elsevier argued that our collective resignation had damaged the journal’s reputation and demanded six-figure damages per person. In the end, it didn’t come to a trial, but the legal uncertainty weighed on me for two years."
open-science-future.zbw.eu
Challenges and opportunities of the open access transformation
Rethinking science: Professor Dr Dr h.c. Klaus M. Schmidt on his Open Science experiences.
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Reposted by Al Roth
Retraction Watch @retractionwatch.com · 24/08/2026
Six editors and nearly 60 advisory editors of Games and Economic Behavior resigned after Elsevier, the journal’s publisher, decided not to renew the editor-in-chief’s contract.
retractionwatch.com
Editors of economics journal resign after Elsevier doesn’t renew EIC’s contract
Six editors and nearly 60 advisory editors of Games and Economic Behavior resigned after the journal’s publisher decided not to renew the editor-in-chief’s contract.  In late July, Elsevier to…
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Here are two articles responding to a recent controversy in the news, one about a proposed ban on surrogacy in Texas, and one proposing more comprehensive regulation as a way of supporting access to surrogacy in the face of opposition. #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/abor...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Abortion opponents seeking to ban surrogacy in Texas (and supporters are thinking about more regulation)
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The magazine Reasons to be Cheerful has a cheerful discussion of kidney exchange (which includes some reflections by Mike Rees on non-simultaneous chains), and of the proposed End Kidney Deaths Act. #econsky #medicine marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/reas...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Reasons to be cheerful discusses kidney exchange
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Purdue recognizes Martin Dufwenberg as a distinguished professor. #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/mart...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Martin Dufwenberg is celebrated at Purdue
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Market design at Stanford: NBER workshop in October , call for papers #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/nber...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
NBER workshop on Market Design, Stanford, Oct 16-17, call for papers
Here's the call for papers for the NBER workshop on market design, at Stanford in October.
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
My blurb: “The End of Death tells the gripping story of a tireless doctor (Norman Shumway), a drug (cyclosporine), and a law (recognizing brain death) that combined to make heart transplants one of the miracles of modern medicine.” #econsky #medicine marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/how-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
How heart transplants gave birth to brain death (new book by Basil Baccouche)
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Kidney exchange in Italy is now making good use of deceased-donor initiated chains. #econsky #italy marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/dece...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Deceased-donor initiated kidney exchange chaiins in Italy, after six years
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Deceased organ donation in China does not yet have overwhelming public support although receiving a deceased donor organ transplant does. #econsky #china marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/publ...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Public attitudes towards deceased organ donation and allocation in china
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I follow the Tour de France, partly out of an interest in performance enhancing drugs and other kinds of doping, as in altering the bikes. The Tour de France Femmes now has a discussion of bra doping, for better aerodynamics: #econsky #sports marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/bra-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Bra doping at the women’s Tour de France
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Moral Economics: You can read the introduction and part of the first chapter (which happens to be on Sex), open access, on google books #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/mora...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Moral Economics: read the first 30 pages, open access on Google books
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I talk with Gemma Boothroyd, about Moral Economics and controversial markets in Canada, including medical aid in dying, about which she has a story of her own. #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/cont...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Controversial markets in Canada
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The forthcoming issue of PNAS (August 18, 2026 | vol. 123 | no. 33) has a big set of papers on illegal markets, with the goal of searching for common features, which turn out to be somewhat elusive. #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/08/true...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
True Crime: Illegal markets have great variety (PNAS)
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