Allen and Lenabelle Davis Professor of Economics and Social Sciences

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John O. Ledyard is the Alan and Lenabelle Davis Professor of Economics and Social Sciences at the California Institute of Technology, where he has been teaching since 1986. Previous positions include Northwestern University, where he was the Sydney G. Harris Professor of Social Science, and Carnegie Mellon University. He holds an AB degree in Mathematics from Wabash College and MS and PhD, both in economics, from Purdue University. At Caltech, he was a Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar (1977-78) and later was the Chairman of the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences (1992-2002).

Professor Ledyard’s list of honorary distinctions and service includes an Honorary Degree from Purdue University and being a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the Public Choice Society and a Fellow of the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory. He has served on several editorial boards of economics and public choice journals, on advisory committees to the National Science Foundation and other organizations, and as the President of the Public Choice Society.

Professor Ledyard's primary research is on the theoretical foundations and the applications of mechanism design. He has contributed greatly to our understanding of the roles of incentives and information in organizations. His theoretical work has provided insights into what is possible and what is not in the design of incentive compatible organizations and voting systems. His more applied work has included the design and development of computer-assisted markets for trading pollution rights, acquiring logistics contracts, swapping portfolios of thinly traded securities, prediction markets, and advertising time. His current research includes the design of market-based approaches for managing spacecraft and instrument design (approaches designed to reduce cost-over runs and improve the science recovered), and the design of cap and trade systems for the control over-fishing and creating sustainable fisheries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     



   

© 2013 John O. Ledyard, All rights are reserved.