Eric Maskin Quotations

How do we ensure in the case of public goods that they are provided at all, and that they are provided at the right level, taking into account citizens' preferences?

Because mechanism designers do not generally know which outcomes are optimal in advance, they have to proceed more indirectly than simply prescribing outcomes by fiat; in particular, the mechanisms designed must generate the information needed as they are executed.

At Tenafly High, I was lucky to have some dedicated teachers; I'm especially indebted to my calculus instructor, Francis Piersa, who opened my eyes to the striking beauty of mathematics.

Through meteorology, we know essentially how hurricanes form, even though we can't say where the next storm will arise.

The theory of mechanism design can be thought of as the 'engineering' side of economic theory.

The market is no god - it cannot solve every problem.

The market doesn't work very well when it comes to public goods.

Most policy makers embrace a religious-like belief that the market can and should solve every problem.

Markets work well with goods that economists call private goods.

In an industry with highly sequential innovation, it may be better for society to scrap patents altogether than try to tighten them.