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Robert Wilson

Economics & Finance

Robert Wilson

Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Emeritus, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Robert Wilson is the Winner of the 2020 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

He is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management Emeritus at Stanford University School of Business.

Three of Professor Wilson’s former students - Paul Milgrom, Alvin Roth, & Bengt Holmstrom - have also won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

When the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was looking to auction off the broadcast spectrum used for wireless communications in 1993, it adopted an auction format called simultaneous multiple round auctions (SMRA) co-invented by Professor Wilson & Professor Paul Milgrom.

Professors Wilson and Milgrom thereby played a key role in shaping the entire U.S. telecommunications industry.

Professor Wilson is Known As ‘The Dean Of Market Design’.

Known As: The Dean of Market Design.

Doctoral Dissertation: A Simplicial Algorithm for Concave Programming.

Education
DBA, Harvard University · MBA, Harvard University · AB, Harvard University
Topics
Game Theory · Market Design · Social Choice Theory · Information Economics · Industrial Organization

In the Encyclopedia2

Selected publications11

  1. 2023Strategic Foundations of Efficient Rational Expectations. (w/ Paulo Barelli & Srihari Govindan). The Review of Economic Studies. December 2023.
  2. 2021Strategic Analysis of Auctions. Econometrica. March 2021 Vol. 89 Issue 2 Pages 555–561.
  3. 2020Coordination of Electricity Transmission and Generation Investments. (w/ Hung-po Chao). Energy Economics. February 2020Vol. 86
  4. 2019How Market Design Emerged from Game Theory: A Mutual Interview. (w/ Alvin E. Roth). Journal of Economic Perspectives. August 2019 Vol. 33 Issue 3 Pages 118-143.
  5. 2009Global Newton Method for Stochastic Games (w/ Srihari Govindan). Journal of Economic Theory. January 2009 Vol. 144 Issue 1 Pages 414-421.
  6. 2006Sufficient Conditions for Stable Equilibria (w/ Srihari Govindan). Theoretical Economics 2006 Vol. 1 Issue 2 Pages 167-206.
  7. 2005Essential Equilibria (w/ Srihari Govindan). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2005 Vol. 102 Issue 43 Pages 15706–15711.
  8. 1993Bargaining with Private Information (w/ John Kennan). Journal of Economic Literature 1993 Vol. 31 Issue 1 Pages 45-104.
  9. 1986Foundations of Dynamic Monopoly and the Coase Conjecture. (w/ Faruk Gul, Hugo Sonnenschein). Journal of Economic Theory. 1986 Vol. 39 Issue 1 Pages 155-190.
  10. 1982Sequential Equilibria. (w/ David M. Kreps). Econometrica. July 1982 Vol. 50 Issue 4 Pages 863-894.
  11. 1982Rational Cooperation in the Finitely Repeated Prisoners' Dilemma. (w/ David M. Kreps, Paul R. Milgrom, John Roberts). Journal of Economic Theory. 1982 Vol. 27 Pages 245-252.

Positions & affiliations1

  • Stanford University

Credentials & fellowships1

  • Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2020)

Honours & awards6

  • 2020 Nobel Memorial Prize In Economics
  • 2018 John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Sciences
  • 2006 Designated Distinguished Fellow, The American Economic Association
  • 2001 PhD Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award, Stanford University
  • 1995 Leo Melamed Prize
  • 1994 Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences