American - Economist | December 12, 1950 -
Through meteorology, we know essentially how hurricanes form, even though we can't say where the next storm will arise.
Eric Maskin
StormKnowSayWillNextThrough
Perhaps one day earthquakes, hurricanes and financial crashes will all be predictable. But we don't have to wait until then for seismology, meteorology and economics to become sciences; they already are.
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A properly designed tax system can strike a balance between helping the poor and, at the same time, giving people the incentive to work.
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Many markets work best with little or no outside interference. But others - especially those subject to big 'externalities' - need a helping hand.
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In an industry with highly sequential innovation, it may be better for society to scrap patents altogether than try to tighten them.
InnovationSocietyBetterTryMay
I was born in New York City but grew up across the Hudson River in Alpine, New Jersey.
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At Tenafly High, I was lucky to have some dedicated teachers; I'm especially indebted to my calculus instructor, Francis Piersa, who opened my eyes to the striking beauty of mathematics.
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I probably learned most at MIT by teaching and working with Peter Diamond, who acted like a big brother to me during my time in the department.
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Of course, MIT was notable not just for its faculty but also for its students. And, facing such extremely bright kids as a rookie teacher was something like being thrown to the wolves.
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Much theoretical work, of course, focuses on existing economic institutions. The theorist wants to explain or forecast the economic or social outcomes that these institutions generate.
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The theory of mechanism design can be thought of as the 'engineering' side of economic theory.
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What we mean by an outcome will naturally depend on the context. Thus, for a government charged with delivering public goods, an outcome will consist of the quantities provided of such goods as intercity highways, national defense and security, environmental protection, and public education together with the arrangements by which they are financed.
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