"Harvard economist Alvin Roth is a matchmaker but he's not finding love
-- he's finding kidneys! With support from the National Science
Foundation, he and his team have developed a suite of computer programs
that match living kidney donors with recipients. So, the person who
needs a kidney brings someone to the table who is willing to donate a
kidney. Even if those two are not a match, the donor will match someone
else. Think of it as a medical version of match-dot-com, linking donors
and recipients, making chains of transplants possible across the
country. Roth's team includes market designer Itai Ashlagi and
operations researcher David Gamarnik at MIT and economists Utku Unver
and Tayfun Sonmez at Boston College. So what are economists doing
organizing kidney transplants? It turns out that an understanding of
game theory and market dynamics is key to optimizing pairings. It's all
about streamlining complicated matches using the science of the
marketplace. Their matching software is the engine that has helped
transplant centers in 30 states so far.
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