A Conversation with Roger Myerson: Harmonicas, Xenophon, and Why Your Mayor Matters More Than You Think episode artwork

EPISODE · Dec 16, 2025 · 1H 50M

A Conversation with Roger Myerson: Harmonicas, Xenophon, and Why Your Mayor Matters More Than You Think

from The Pie: An Economics Podcast · host Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago

In this wide-ranging conversation, Nobel Prize–winning economist Roger Myerson reflects on a career studying how rules shape human behavior, from optimal auction design to Ukraine's decentralization reforms. Myerson explains the foundations of mechanism design and incentive constraints, tracing economics back to Xenophon and arguing that local democracy is what holds democracies together.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Nobel Prize–winning economist Roger Myerson reflects on a career studying how rules shape human behavior, from optimal auction design to Ukraine's decentralization reforms. Myerson explains the foundations of mechanism design and incentive constraints, tracing economics back to Xenophon and arguing that local democracy is what holds democracies together.

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A Conversation with Roger Myerson: Harmonicas, Xenophon, and Why Your Mayor Matters More Than You Think

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This episode was published on December 16, 2025.

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In this wide-ranging conversation, Nobel Prize–winning economist Roger Myerson reflects on a career studying how rules shape human behavior, from optimal auction design to Ukraine's decentralization reforms. Myerson explains the foundations of...

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