Paul Milgrom was awarded Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020 for his work on auction theory and market design. Here he, and Silvia Console Battilana, argue that market design methods can be used to allocate scarce environmental goods, like for instance water.

This article is also available in Swedish. Om du vill läsa artikeln på svenska, klicka <a title="Marknadsdesignens kraft" href="https://bulletin.nu/marknadsdesignens-kraft">här</a>.

Drought at a farm in California, May 2015. Can economic theory help us avoid similar scenes in the future? Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP/TT

Paul Milgrom, Nobel laureate in Economics, argues that market design can be used to allocate scarce environmental goods.

The Power of Market Design

Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics at MIT and co-author of Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, writes about China’s efforts to decouple itself from the US and the West.

BOSTON – The Chinese government’s <a title="China fines Alibaba billions for alleged market abuses" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/10/china-fines-alibaba-billions-for-alleged-market-abuses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crackdown</a> on Alibaba last year, and on the <a title="Didi the latest casualty as China tackles tech’s ‘barbaric growth’" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/09/didi-the-latest-casualty-as-china-tackles-techs-barbaric-growth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ride-hailing company Didi</a> this month, has generated fevered speculation about the future of that country’s tech industry. Some view the recent Chinese regulatory interventions as part of a justifiable trend <a title="China’s Didi Crackdown Isn’t All That Different From U.S. Moves Against Big Tech" href="https://time.com/6079121/chinas-didi-crackdown-big-tech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paralleling US authorities</a>’ own intensifying scrutiny of Big Tech. Others see it as a play for <a title="Data, not arms, the key driver in emerging US-China cold war" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/10/china-us-cold-war-data-markets-national-security" target="_blank" rel="noopener">control of data</a> that might otherwise be exploited by Western countries. And still others, more plausibly, see it as a <a title="China Is Killing Its Tech Golden Goose" href="https://bulletin.nu/china-is-killing-its-tech-golden-goose" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot across the bow</a> to remind big Chinese companies that the Communist Party of China is still in charge.

A socially distanced meeting between US and China held in Alaska earlier this year. Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AP/TT

Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics at MIT, on China’s efforts to decouple itself from the US and the West.

The Dangers of Decoupling

Professor Takatoshi Ito, a former Japanese deputy vice minister of finance, on Japan, covid-19, politics, economics and the Olympics.

TOKYO – On July 8, the Japanese government declared a state of emergency in Tokyo until August 22, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means the Tokyo Olympic Games (July 23-August 8) will be subject to strict limits on spectators for large events.

The Olympic rings at Hibiya Park in Tokyo, July 16, 2021. Photo: Hiro Komae/AP/TT

Professor Takatoshi Ito on Japan, covid-19, politics and the Olympics.

Japan’s Quiet Olympics

Statsvetarprofessorn Minxin Pei skriver om hur Kina skadar sin tekniksektor med plötsliga och godtyckliga åtgärder.

Den här artikeln finns också på engelska. If you want to read it in English, click <a title="China Is Killing Its Tech Golden Goose" href="https://bulletin.nu/china-is-killing-its-tech-golden-goose">here</a>.

Hönor på väg till slakt? Bild från en marknad i Shanghai, Kina. Foto: Eugene Hoshiko/AP/TT

Statsvetarprofessorn Minxin Pei om hur Kina skadar sin tekniksektor med plötsliga och godtyckliga åtgärder.