23002 Market Design
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particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source
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Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.
Credit points: 6 cp
Subject level:
Undergraduate
Result type: Grade and marksRequisite(s): 23567 Intermediate Microeconomics
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Description
Traditionally, economics focuses on the study of existing markets. But recently, economists have been involved in the design of markets for new products and the redesign of existing markets that are performing poorly. The subject focuses on strategic decision-making and the theory and practice of market design. Applications are drawn from online auction markets, government auctions of natural resources, matching markets (students to classes or schools, medical residents to hospitals, kidneys to recipients), health care markets, and electricity markets.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
| 1. | understand the field of market design, its applications and the associated engineering concerns |
|---|---|
| 2. | develop reasonable solutions to real work market design problems and evaluated their theoretical performance |
| 3. | use economic theory, experiments and empirical analysis to assess market rules and institutions |
Contribution to the development of graduate attributes
The field of market design studies how to design rules for the allocation of resources. This course is an introduction to market design. It will survey the central applications of market design. Its focus will be to give students the tools to think critically about institutions and market rules and identify why some fail and some succeed. Students will learn to recognize market design problems in the real world and suggest reasonable solutions.
Successful completion of this subject will contribute to students’ acquiring the following graduate attributes:
- Intellectual rigour and innovative problem solving
- Communication and collaboration
- Professional and technical competence
Teaching and learning strategies
This course will be taught using a combination of lectures and tutorials.
Content (topics)
- Standard auctions
- More auctions: combinatorial, sponsored search, package, etc.
- Matching markets
- Design of internet markets for advertising and commerce
- Engineering better markets and institutions
- Voting
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Homework and/or in-class quizzes (Individual)*
| Objective(s): | This addresses subject learning objective(s): 1, 2 and 3 |
|---|---|
| Weight: | 25% |
| Criteria: | *Note: Late submission of the assessment task will not be marked and awarded a mark of zero. |
Assessment task 2: Midterm exam (individual)
| Objective(s): | This addresses subject learning objective(s): 1, 2 and 3 |
|---|---|
| Weight: | 25% |
Assessment task 3: Final Exam (Individual)
| Objective(s): | This addresses subject learning objective(s): 1, 2 and 3 |
|---|---|
| Weight: | 50% |
Minimum requirements
Students must achieve at least 50% of the subject’s total marks.
Required texts
Market Design by Guillaume Haeringer is the required textbook.