Nobel Prize in Economics for research on matchmaking

Researchers Lloyd Shapley, at the University of California, and Alvin E Roth, at Harvard University, will soon be receiving the Nobel Prize in Economics for their research on game theory. But they have not actually worked together. Shapley has developed theories and methods for how to achieve the best match between two different agents. In a stable match, neither party should prefer to be matched to someone else. Roth has in turn conducted systematic lab experiments and applied Shapleys theoretical results in practice.

Eva Mörk, professor of national economics at Uppsala University and member of the Economics Prize committee, says it is the coupling of theory and practice, the sum of Shapley’s and Roth’s work, that makes the research so good.

‘Shapley’s and Roth’s research combines very abstract methods with practical applications which are very “hands-on”,’ she says.

Roth has done the ‘hands-on’ work. He has used Shapley’s methods to, among other things, re-work systems used in the US to match newly graduated doctors with hospitals and systems for matching school children with schools in Boston and New York. He has also improved the way that organ donors are matched with patients. So far, Shapley’s and Roth’s research has mainly been applied in the US, says Eva Mörk.