Who is Alvin Roth?

Before picking up this class at the last minute, and before being assigned this alias, I really had no idea who Alvin Roth was, what he did, or what he was famous for.  In fact, I know very little about any famous economists, although being a business student, I probably should make it a point to learn more.  But enough about me, back to Alvin Roth.  Interestingly enough, Alvin Roth was not an immediate success.  In fact, Roth was initially a high school dropout and it was only after a failed Ph.D. qualifying exam that he met the mentor and advisor who would help him get through his struggles at Stanford.  Soon afterwards, Roth ended up taking an appointment in economics at THE University of Illinois where he developed much of his research on game theory. After his time at Illinois, Roth then went to Pittsburgh and finally to Harvard. At the peak of his career at Harvard, Roth decided to leave and take a job at Stanford University, surprising quite a few people along the way.

After reading up on Alvin Roth as a person, as well as some of his work, I would have to say not only is he a fascinating person, but he has done some very interesting things with economics.  As I mentioned, I know very little about famous economists much less the complex theories they are famous for studying and/or applying.  So I did a bit of side research on game theory.  There are myriad high level definitions of game theory, but the one I found to make the most sense defined it as “the study of how people, companies or nations (referred to as agents or players) determine strategies in different situations in the face of competing strategies acted out by other agents or players.”  This all lead me to wonder, how did Roth apply his expertise in game theory and subsequently win a Nobel prize? 

Roth used game theory to develop some very relevant systems that play a role in very critical areas of our lives.  Roth further developed a mathematical algorithm which was then used to redesign several existing systems to work more efficiently. The first major area in which Roth applied game theory was within the medical field.  Roth developed a system to match doctors with hospitals, and a system to match organ donors with patients.  Roth also applied game theory to the school system, developing a system to better match school pupils with schools.  

The best known of all these is the National Resident Matching Program.  Also known as “The Match”, this system adopted Roth’s algorithm in order to more successfully match US student doctors to hospitals.  Roth also applied his algorithm to the live organ donor system.  In a nutshell, this “enabled patients to trade nonmatching donor kidneys for those that match, connecting people who need kidneys with the right donors” (Woolhouse & Denison, Boston Globe).  According to the program manager at UNOS National Kidney Paired Donation Program in Richmond, “Al reinvented the way living organs are donated” (Woolhouse & Denison, Boston Globe).  

My personal favorite, and something I can relate to because of going through the process of applying to schools myself, is Roth’s application of game theory to the problem of Boston’s school selection process.  “In Boston, the school assignment system was operating badly. Parents competing for popular schools were often penalized if they did not get their first choice; if their second and third choices were also popular, those slots would be filled by students choosing them first” (Woolhouse & Denison, Boston Globe).  Roth created a system where parents and students would be incentivized to select their true preferred schools, and therefore not attempt to “game” the system.

Above all, in spite of his success and knowledge, all accounts point to Roth being an even better person.  A genuine, down to earth, and inspiring person, loved by everyone who knows him.  This, to me, makes me pretty content, and inspired, to be using his name as my alias for a semester.

 Is Alvin Roth’s work relevant to this course?  I believe it is.  Going back to the definition of game theory, I believe it would apply to the classic problem of participation in class.  I have two options, participate or don’t participate.  If I do participate, I may be wrong and feel embarrassed, while everyone else benefits.  However, if I don’t participate, someone else will take the risk of being wrong while I benefit.  In order to correct this, most classes include a participation grade which then forces students to participate or risk being penalized for not doing so.   This situation appears to me to be agents (students) acting out strategies (participate or not participate) in the face of competing strategies by other agents (students & professor).  While my interpretation may not be completely accurate, game theory at its core involves agents, or organizations, which is what we have set out to learn more about in this course. Given this, I feel it is very relevant to our class.

Sources Used:

"Alvin E. Roth - Biographical." Alvin E. Roth - Biographical. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Sept. 2015.

Ro, Sam. "NYC And Boston High School Students Can Thank Nobel Prize Winner Alvin Roth For Their Fates." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 04 Sept. 2015.

Scheve, Tom. "How Game Theory Works." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, n.d. Web. 04 Sept. 2015.

Woolhouse, Megan, and D.C. Denison. "Harvard Professor Alvin Roth Awarded Nobel Prize in Economics - The Boston Globe." BostonGlobe.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Sept. 2015.