On November 16th, Eric Maskin, Nobel Laureate, treated a group of mathematically inclined economics students to discussion over lunch and a lecture detailing his Nobel Prize winning work. At lunch, Professor Maskin spoke about how his life has changed since he won the prize: increased media attention, constantly giving talks, preparing for his Nobel speech in his free time, and consistently traveling around the globe. He noted that one benefit of being in so many different places in a given week is that if you can't adjust to one time zone, you won't feel the jet lag when you leave it. Exhausted or not, Maskin conducted a seminar on Nash Equilibrium and mechanism design that was energetic and accessible. Maskin's Nobel winning work centered on the concept of monotonicity, sometimes called Maskin monotonicity.
Maskin's work proves that monotonicity is a necessary condition for implementation, an important concept in the field of game theory. His work also proves that monotonicity and "no veto power," another concept in mechanism design, are sufficient conditions for implementation. Though these concepts are somewhat advanced, it seemed that his audience grasped them well throughout the lecture, lending credence to Maskin's abilities as a teacher, as well as his abilities as an economic innovator.
Dr. Eric Maskin's Seminar on Maskin Monotonicity - Part One:
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