Paul Milgrom
Paul Milgrom is the Shirley and Leonard Ely professor of Humanities and Sciences in the department of economics at Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the holder of an honorary doctorate from the Stockholm School of Economics. Links to his curriculum vita, reprints of journal publications, working papers, teaching materials and former students’ websites are found in the frame on the left of this page.
Milgrom has made well-known contributions to many areas of economics, including auctions, incentive theory, industrial economics, economic history, economics of manufacturing, economics of organizations, and game theory. His book with John Roberts, Economics, Organization and Management, opened a new area to economic research.
He is best known, however, for his contributions to the theory of auctions and for pioneering contributions to the practice of auction design. According to the National Science Foundation’s account (America’s Investment in the Future), Milgrom was the main academic contributor to the original FCC spectrum auction design – the simultaneous ascending auction. This design, which Milgrom developed with colleagues Robert Wilson and Preston McAfee, has been copied and adapted for dozens of auctions of radio spectrum, electricity, and natural gas involving hundreds of billion dollars worldwide. He advised Google on its IPO auction of shares, Yahoo! on the design of an advertising marketplace, Microsoft Networks on sponsored search auctions, the Oregon Public Utilities Commission on sales of electrical generating assets, Mexico on privatization auctions of state-owned assets, and spectrum regulators in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Mexico on sales of radio spectrum. He has also advised bidders in several major auctions, including helping SpectrumCo to save over $1 billion in US spectrum auction #66.
Milgrom founded Market Design, Inc to bring new scholarship on market design to practical applications. Useful links to market design scholarship, particularly ones emphasizing applications to matching markets, can be found on the websites of Professors Alvin Roth and Muriel Niederle.
Milgrom’s book Putting Auction Theory to Work was published by Cambridge University Press in 2004 and immediately celebrated by leading economists and practitioners. Lecture slides and problem sets for an auction theory course based on this book are available for download and extra material is available on request. Errata for the book are also available. In addition, slides are available for Milgrom’s 2006 mini-courses taught at Gerzensee and at the Stockholm School of Economics on Topics in Market Design.
Paul Milgrom is also affiliated with CRA International, which provides economic analysis for business consulting and litigation support., and Inflexion Point Strategy, which is an intellectual property investment bank.