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Engineering Social and Economic Institutions

Objective

The advent of the Internet and the increased power of modern day computing have dramatically changed the economic landscape. Billions of dollars worth of goods are being auctioned among geographically dispersed buyers; online brokerages are used to find jobs, trade stocks, make travel arrangements, etc. The architecture of these online (trading) platforms is typically rooted in their pre-Internet counterparts, and advances in the theory of market design combined with increased computing capabilities prompt a careful re-evaluation. This proposal concerns the creation of novel, more flexible institutions using an approach that combines theory, laboratory experiments, and practical policy. The first project enhances our understanding of newly designed package auctions by developing equilibrium models of competitive bidding and measuring the efficacy of alternative formats in controlled experiments. The next project studies novel market forms that allow for all-or-nothing trades to alleviate inefficiencies and enhance dynamic stability when complementarities exist. The third project concerns the design of market regulation and procurement contests to create better incentives for research and development. The fourth project addresses information aggregation properties of alternative voting institutions, suggesting improvements for referenda and jury/committee voting. The Internet has also dramatically altered the nature of social interactions. Emerging institutions such as online social networking tools, rating systems, and web-community Q&A services reduce social distances and catalyze opportunities for social learning. The final project focuses on social learning in a variety of settings and on the impact of social networks on behavior. Combined these projects generate insights that apply to a broad array of social and economic environments and that will guide practitioners to the use of better designed institutions.

Call for proposal

ERC-2009-AdG
See other projects for this call

Host institution

University of Zurich
EU contribution
€ 1 797 525,21
Address
RAMISTRASSE 71
8006 ZURICH
Switzerland

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Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Principal investigator
Jacob Goeree (Prof.)
Administrative Contact
Jacob Goeree (Prof.)
Links
Total cost
No data

Beneficiaries (1)