Roger Myerson

**Roger Bruce Myerson** (born 29 March 1951) is an American economist and co-winner, with Leonid Hurwicz and Eric Maskin, of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory." He has made contributions as an economist, as an applied mathematician, and as a political scientist.

## Biography

Roger Myerson was born on March 29, 1951 to a Jewish family. He attended Harvard University, where he received his A.B., S.M. (1973), and Ph.D. (1976), all in applied mathematics. From 1976 to 2001, he was a professor of economics at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Currently, he is the Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago.

## Contributions

Among his scientific contributions to game theory and mechanism design, the following are noteworthy:
- "Graphs and Cooperation in Games," _Mathematics of Operations Research_ 2 (1977), 225-229.
- "Two-Person Bargaining Problems and Comparable Utility," _Econometrica_ 45 (1977), 1631-1637.
- "Refinements of the Nash Equilibrium Concept," _International Journal of Game Theory_ 7 (1978), 73-80.
- "Incentive Compatibility and the Bargaining Problem," _Econometrica_ 47 (1979), 61-73.
- "Optimal Auction Design," _Mathematics of Operations Research_ 6 (1981), 58-73.
- "Mechanism Design by an Informed Principal," _Econometrica_ 51 (1983), 1767-1797.
- "Two-Person Bargaining Problems with Incomplete Information," _Econometrica_ 52 (1984), 461-487.
- "Bayesian Equilibrium and Incentive Compatibility," in _Social Goals and Social Organization_, edited by L. Hurwicz, D. Schmeidler, and Hugo Sonnenschein, Cambridge University Press (1985), 229-259.

He wrote a general textbook on game theory in 1991, and has also written on the history of game theory, including his review of the origins and significance of noncooperative game theory.

Myerson has worked on economic analysis of political institutions and written several major survey papers:
- "Analysis of Democratic Institutions: Structure, Conduct, and Performance," Journal of Economic Perspectives 9:1 (1995), 77-89.
- "Economic Analysis of Political Institutions: An Introduction,"  Advances in Economic Theory and Econometrics: Theory and Applications, volume 1, edited by D. Kreps and K. Wallis (Cambridge University Press, 1997), pages 46–65.
- "Theoretical Comparisons of Electoral Systems," European Economic Review 43 (1999), 671-697.

His recent work on democratization has raised critical questions about American policy in occupied Iraq.

## Books by Professor Myerson

Myerson has published the following books:
- _Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict_, Harvard University Press, 1991.
- _Probability Models for Economic Decisions_, Duxbury Press, 2005.

## Other websites

- Webpage at the University of Chicago
- ABC News Chicago video interview
- The scientific background to the 2007 Nobel prize: Mechanism Design Theory

## Infobox (scientist)

- **name**: Roger Myerson
- **image**: Myerson roger print.jpg
- **birth date**: March 29, 1951
- **birth place**: Boston, Massachusetts
- **field**: Economist
- **work institution**: University of Chicago
Northwestern University
- **alma mater**: Harvard University
- **doctoral advisor**: Kenneth Arrow
- **known for**: Game theory, Mechanism design
- **prizes**: Nobel Prize in Economics (2007)