Teaching

Course exploring the theory and practice of market design. Topics very by year, but often include auctions, labor market matching, school choice programs, Internet marketplaces, food supply, organ exchange systems, crypto and web3, financial market design, developing economies, and matching with contracts. The first half of the course introduces market design and its technology; subsequent weeks discuss recent papers alongside their classical antecedents.

This seminar explores the purpose and potential of markets, drawing on classical ideas in economic theory. At the same time, we look at the pitfalls: how and when markets lead to inequitable outcomes, or just fail to create value overall. Then, we ask: How should markets work—and how can economists and entrepreneurs help bring them there?

MBA course on market design and marketplace strategy, with an emphasis on building and improving real-world markets. First, we explore how markets function and what makes them fail. Next, we examine how effective marketplace design-or redesign-can address market failures and improve efficiency, liquidity, and fairness. Then, we will take the entrepreneur’s perspective, studying the key barriers to organizing new marketplaces and devising strategies for overcoming them. Case contexts range from ultra-local (e.g., the HBS elective course lottery) to truly global (e.g., cross-country vaccine allocation); examine private and public/social enterprise settings; and profile both online and offline marketplaces; across all stages of marketplace-building.

MBA course on designing, launching, and scaling Web3-native businesses, with an emphasis on incentive design, tokenomics, decentralization, governance, and questions of value accrual/capture. The course also teaches technical and practical underpinnings of blockchains through a series of live exercises.