2012年诺贝尔经济学家认可“市场设计”领域

This year, the Nobel Prize for economics recognizes two Americans for their work. Staffan Normark, Permanent Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, made the announcement Monday.

今年的诺贝尔经济学奖认可了两名美国人的成就。本周一，瑞典皇家科学院常任秘书长斯塔凡·诺马克（Staffan Normark）宣布了这一消息。

"The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2012 to Professor Alvin Roth at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA...And to Professor Lloyd S. Shapley at University of California Los Angeles."

“瑞典皇家科学院决定将2012年瑞典国家银行纪念阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔经济

学奖(Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of

Alfred Nobel 2012，通常称为诺贝尔经济学奖）颁发给哈佛大学（位于美

国马萨诸塞州剑桥城）的阿尔文·罗斯（Alvin Roth）教授，以及加州大学洛杉矶分校的罗伊德·S·沙普利（Lloyd S. Shapley）教授。

Staffan Normark added the reason the two men won the prize. 诺马克还补充说明了这两人获得该奖项的原因。

"For the theory of stable allocation and the practice of market design."

“以鼓励他们在稳定配置理论及市场设计实践上所作出的贡献。”

The Nobel Prize in economics is often awarded for discoveries in how markets work or how market actors behave. But Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley thought of ways to design markets.

诺贝尔经济学家通常授予给市场如何运作或市场参与者如何行为的发现。但罗斯和沙普利想到了办法来设计市场。

Per Krusell of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences explained it this way.

瑞典皇家科学院的佩尔·克鲁塞尔（Per Krusell）教授这样解释说：

"This year's prize in economic sciences is about economic engineering. It's about how to practically design certain markets so that they work well."

“今年的经济学奖是关于经济工程，是关于如何从实际出发设计不同市场使

其更为有效。”

Lloyd Shapley worked with David Gale on a research project in

the 1960s. It dealt with how to match up ten men and ten women in strong, successful marriages.

上世纪60年代沙普利曾和戴维·戈尔（David Gale）在一个研究项目上合

作过。该项目是论述如何匹配10名男性和10名女性，使其成为最为坚固、成功的婚姻。

The two researchers developed an algorithm or mathematical formula. It provided a model suggesting a way that all those couples could be matched best.

这两位研究人员开发了一种算法或数学公式（即GS算法）。它提供了一个

模型，提出了一种使所有夫妇最为匹配的方式。

The algorithm did not do very much to solve anyone's marriage issues. But it did suggest ways to understand some kinds of markets better.

该算法在解决任何人的婚姻问题上都没有起到太大作用。但它确实提供了一

种更了解某些类型市场的途径

David Gale died a few years ago. Alvin Roth built on the work, although he and Lloyd Shapley did not work together. Mr. Roth recognized the value of the Gale-Shapley findings. And he applied it to real-life markets.

戈尔几年前就去世了。罗斯虽然未同沙普利一起工作，但他的成果也建立在

该算法的基础上。罗斯先生认识到了戈尔和沙普利的研究结果的价值，并把

它应用到实际生活的市场中。

These included markets where the normal supply and demand relationship does not work, and where payment is not used. These markets require matching market actors such as organ donors and recipients, or students with public schools. Mr. Roth's work was also used to match new doctors with hospitals.

其中就包括正常供应和需求关系并不匹配，也没用到支付手段的一些市场。

这些市场需要匹配市场参与者，如匹配器官捐赠者和捐赠者，或使学生与公

立学校相匹配。罗斯先生的成果还被用于匹配新医生和医院。

The Royal Swedish Academy called the work of Mr. Roth and Mr. Shapley an outstanding example of economic engineering.

瑞典皇家科学家称罗斯先生和沙普利先生的成果是经济工程一个突出的例子。

Alvin Roth said market design is a new field and the prize may draw more attention to it.

罗斯表示，市场设计是一个新的领域，诺贝尔经济学奖会为该领域吸引到更多关注。

"You know, my colleagues and I work in an area that we're calling 'market design', which is sort of a newish area of economics and I'm sure that when I get to class this morning my students will pay more attention."

“我和我的同事在我们称之为…市场设计?的这一领域工作，它是经济学的新生

领域，我敢肯定今天早上去上课时，我的学生们会更加关注这一领域。”

Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley will share the prize, which is worth over one million dollars.

罗斯和沙普利将共同分享价值超过100万美元的诺贝尔经济学奖。