About This Lesson
With support from the National Science Foundation, Harvard economist Alvin Roth and his team have developed a suite of computer programs that match living kidney donors with recipients. Roth’s team includes market designer Itai Ashlagi, operations researcher David Gamarnik at MIT, and economists Utku Unver and Tayfun Sonmez at Boston College. So what are economists doing organizing kidney transplants? It turns out that an understanding of game theory and market dynamics is key to optimizing pairings. Their matching software is the engine that has helped transplant centers in 30 states so far.
