Eric Maskin

Eric Maskin
Nomo michael hoefner http://www.zwo5.de · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	Eric Maskin
Caption	Maskin in 2010
Birth date	12 December 1950
Birth place	New York City, U.S.
Nationality	American
Field	Economics, Game theory, Social choice theory
Institution	Harvard University, Institute for Advanced Study, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alma mater	Harvard University (Ph.D., M.A.), Harvard College (A.B.)
Doctoral advisor	Kenneth Arrow
Known for	Mechanism design, Implementation theory, Nash equilibrium refinements
Prizes	Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2007)

Eric Maskin is an American economist and mathematician renowned for his foundational contributions to mechanism design and game theory. He is the Adams University Professor at Harvard University and a former faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Alongside Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2007 for establishing the core principles of mechanism design theory, which analyzes how institutions can achieve desired social or economic outcomes.

Early life and education

Eric Maskin was born in New York City and grew up in Alpine, New Jersey. He demonstrated an early aptitude for mathematics, winning the Westinghouse Science Talent Search as a high school student. He attended Harvard College, where he initially studied mathematics but became increasingly interested in economics, graduating with an A.B. degree in 1972. He remained at Harvard University for his graduate studies, earning an A.M. in applied mathematics in 1974 and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 1976 under the supervision of the Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow. His doctoral dissertation laid important groundwork for his future research in social choice theory and implementation theory.

Academic career

After completing his doctorate, Maskin joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral fellow. He returned to Harvard University as a professor in 1985, where he taught for over a decade. In 2000, he moved to the Institute for Advanced Study, holding a prestigious position in the School of Social Science. He returned to Harvard University in 2011 as the Adams University Professor, a distinguished endowed chair. Throughout his career, he has held visiting positions at numerous institutions, including Cambridge University and the University of Oxford. He has also served as president of the Econometric Society and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Research and contributions

Maskin's most influential work centers on mechanism design, a field of game theory that inverts the standard analytical process by designing the rules of a game to produce a specific Nash equilibrium. His seminal 1977 paper established what became known as the Maskin monotonicity condition, a critical theorem for determining when a social choice rule can be implemented. He made further pioneering contributions to implementation theory, which provides methods for designing mechanisms so that equilibria correspond to socially optimal outcomes. His research has also significantly advanced the study of auction theory, voting systems, and the theory of repeated games. His work with Drew Fudenberg on the folk theorem in repeated games is considered a landmark in the field.

Awards and honors

The pinnacle of Maskin's recognition came in 2007 when he shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson for their work on mechanism design. He is a recipient of the Harvard Centennial Medal and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of the British Academy, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and an elected fellow of the European Economic Association. His research has been honored with prestigious lectureships, including the Fisher-Schultz Lecture for the Econometric Society.

Personal life

Eric Maskin is married to writer Gayle Sawtelle and has two children. He maintains an active interest in classical music and is an accomplished pianist. He has been involved in public policy debates, offering economic perspectives on issues such as intellectual property rights and climate change mitigation. He has also served on the academic advisory board of the Beijing University of Technology and continues to lecture widely at international conferences and institutions.

Category:American economists Category:Harvard University faculty Category:Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winners Category:1950 births Category:Living people