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Auction Theory - Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson

Tim Harford explains the contribution that this year’s Nobel memorial prize winners for economics have made to auction theory.

Paul Milgrom and his former tutor Robert Wilson worked together for years developing ways to run complicated auctions for large resources. This month the two Stanford University professors were awarded the Nobel memorial prize in economics for their work. The auction formats they designed facilitated the sale of goods and services that are difficult to sell in a conventional way, such as radio frequencies.

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