Who Gets What - And Why

‘Who Gets What is a pleasure to read. It’s also a pleasure to discover that rare species, a humble economist. Humble but useful’ Wall Street Journal

‘In his fluent and accessible book, Roth vividly describes the successes of market design … Roth discusses a huge array of fascinating market designs: from auctions for the sale of radio spectrum to high-frequency trading; from apartment lettings on Airbnb to sorority rushes; from the allocation of prestigious clerkships to the assignment of public-school places. Mr Roth has not managed to improve all of them, and his descriptions of failures are often as illuminating as the success stories’ Economist

‘An exciting practical approach to economics that enables both individuals and institutions to achieve their goals without running afoul of the profit motive’ Kirkus

‘This book’s lessons are practical as well as theoretical. Understanding how matching markets operate can help readers navigate them more effectively. A solid match for readers in general economics and business collections’ Library Journal

‘He’s perfectly brilliant and everyone knows it. But Roth is also an articulate and witty scientist with an impish sense of humour who can make even the most complicated idea seem so simple that you wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself. Roth’s thinking has revolutionised the design of the ‘matching systems’’ Daniel Gilbert, author of the best-selling Stumbling on Happiness

‘Al Roth is a brilliantly original thinker, but he has spent his entire career solving real, practical problems. He designs markets, but has thought harder than anyone about the ethics and emotions of the marketplace. What’s more, he saves lives. Not in some abstract sense: he has saved the lives of real people, and you can shake their hands, look them in the eye, and hear them tell you how he did it. We need more economists like him’ Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist

Al Roth is the Professor Emeritus of Economics at Stanford University and the George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration in the Department of Economics at Harvard University and in the Harvard Business School. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society, and has been a Guggenheim and Sloan fellow.

Roth received his Ph.D at Stanford University at the age of 22 and was tenured at the University of Illinois by the age of 25. He came to Harvard from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was the Andrew Mellon Professor of Economics.

Roth is one of the founders of the new economic discipline of market design. His paper ‘The Economist as Engineer’ is one of the manifestos of the movement. He has also been one of the pioneers of experimental economics, and is a veteran game theorist.