Alvin E. Roth

A massive disappointment from a nobel prize winner. It reads like a bad Malcolm Gladwell, Don Tapscott or Steven Levitt book. I learned almost nothing. He could have written an article instead, but that would have required him to identify and name his ideas. (And that is not even to mention the way he speaks of the theft of native American land as a pioneering business opportunity or the way he makes sure to pepper his book with soft promotion for Israel.)

This is a book by a great author who is both a subject-matter expert and the creator of a lot of the things he's writing about, but somehow it manages to be boring and lacking in detail. The premise is that there are markets used to allocate resources, including markets where currency doesn't play a role, and that these markets need to be designed (or have evolved) in certain ways. Unfortunately every example given is so simplified as to really be more worthy of a mass-market magazine show more article, with no real insights. show less

3.5 stars rounded up because of Nobel Prize. Let's hear it for Alvin. Nobel Prize winner, saved thousands of lives with designing a kidney exchange program, and improved the choices for schools for New York and Boston. He won the Nobel Prize for "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design".

There are some great reviews here summarizing the design already. The theory is quite simple and elegant actually. And the book could have been greatly thinned out.

I found the show more book interesting enough even though I have no vested interest in kidney exchanging or selection for public schools. One day perhaps I will be in a position to adopt Alvin's ideas and make a difference in the world as well. show less

Most economics books I read deal with commodity markets. This one is about matching markets which are super interesting. Lots of repetition but good for and econ book.