Paul Milgrom

Research Statement

Paul Milgrom's primary research is directed to designing auctions for multiple unique but related items. Along with Robert Wilson, he introduced the initial design for sales of radio spectrum licenses in the United States. He has designed new auctions for Internet advertising and for procuring complex services. Research on incentives and complexity are combined to create auctions that are simple and straightforward for bidders, yet which dramatically improve resource allocation compared to traditional auction designs.

Bio

Paul Milgrom is the Shirley and Leonard Ely professor of Humanities and Sciences in the department of economics and professor by courtesy at the Graduate School of Business. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and director of the Market Design program at SIEPR.

After earning his PhD at the GSB, Milgrom taught at Northwestern University and Yale before returning to Stanford. He 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 coauthored 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, much of which is summarized in his book, Putting Auction Theory to Work, published by Cambridge University Press, and for his contributions to the practice of auction design. According to the National Science Foundation, 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. Still active in both the theory and practice of auction design, Milgrom has advised Microsoft Networks on sponsored search auctions, Google on its IPO auction of shares, Yahoo! on the design of an advertising marketplace, the Oregon Public Utilities Commission on sales of generating assets, Mexico on privatization auctions of state-owned assets, and various spectrum regulators in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Mexico on sales of radio spectrum.

Academic Degrees

• PhD in Business, Stanford University, 1979
• MS in Statistics, Stanford University, 1978
• MA (Honors), Yale University, 1982
• AB, University of Michigan, 1970

Academic Appointments

• At Stanford University since 1987
• Shirley R. and Leonard W. Ely Jr. Professor of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University Economics Department, 1993-present
• Professor of Economics, Stanford University Economics Department, 1987-1993
• Williams Brothers Professor of Management, Yale University, 1985-1987
• Professor of Management, Yale University, 1983-1985
• Assistant Professor and Professor of Economics, Northwestern University, 1979-1983

Awards and Honors

• John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Sciences, 2018
• Nemmers Prize in Economics, Northwestern University, 2008
• Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, 2006
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1992
• Fellow, Econometric Society, 1984
• BBVA Foundation Fronters of Knowledge Prize, 2013

Teaching

Degree Courses

2017-18

MGTECON 615: Theory and Practice of Auction Market Design

This class will focus on several topics in auction market design and related areas. It is an advanced course, intended as a sequel to the more basic market/mechanism/auction design courses offered at the Economics department and the GSB. Students...

In the Media

2008 Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics Recipient

Northwestern University News, April 2008