Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • December 2020
  • Article
  • Journal of Economic Literature

The Parable of the Auctioneer: Complexity in Paul R. Milgrom's Discovering Prices

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Alexander Teytelboym
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Designing marketplaces in complex settings requires both novel economic theory and real-world engineering, often drawing upon ideas from fields such as computer science and operations research. In Discovering Prices, Milgrom (2017) explains the theory and design of the United States “Incentive Auction” that reallocated wireless spectrum licenses from television broadcasters to telecoms. Milgrom’s account teaches us how economic designers can grapple with complexity both in theory and in practice. Along the way, we come to understand several different types of complexity that can arise in market design.

Keywords

Pricing; Design; Auctions; Market Design; Complexity

Citation

Kominers, Scott Duke, and Alexander Teytelboym. "The Parable of the Auctioneer: Complexity in Paul R. Milgrom's Discovering Prices." Journal of Economic Literature 58, no. 4 (December 2020): 1180–1196.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Scott Duke Kominers

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • June 2025
    • Journal of Finance

    Collusion in Brokered Markets

    By: John William Hatfield, Scott Duke Kominers and Richard Lowery
    • March 14, 2025
    • Harvard Crimson

    Harvard Students Should Ignore Calls to Boycott Israel Trek

    By: Jesse M. Fried, Paul A. Gompers, Scott Kominers and Mark C. Poznansky
    • March 2025
    • Faculty Research

    O2X: Optimizing to the X

    By: Scott Duke Kominers, Thomas Jennings and Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon
More from the Authors
  • Collusion in Brokered Markets By: John William Hatfield, Scott Duke Kominers and Richard Lowery
  • Harvard Students Should Ignore Calls to Boycott Israel Trek By: Jesse M. Fried, Paul A. Gompers, Scott Kominers and Mark C. Poznansky
  • O2X: Optimizing to the X By: Scott Duke Kominers, Thomas Jennings and Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.