News

Professor Roth’s Visit at CERGE-EI

9 May, 2025

On May 7, CERGE-EI faculty, researchers, students and alumni had a unique opportunity to meet Nobel Laureate Alvin E. Roth, who came to Prague to deliver a lecture Who Gets What? The New Economics of Matching and Market Design for the Science at the Castle series, supported in part by Nadace CERGE-EI.

Prior to taking the podium, professor Roth met with students and alumni of CERGE-EI to field questions about his research. He later spoke with CERGE-EI faculty and researchers, some of whom worked or studied with him in the past.

“Such moments are cherished by our whole community. Today, we are very happy that our students could have participated, too. Meetings with leading world economists are not just inspiring, they are hugely motivating. They show how important it is to think outside the box, but also to persevere in your work and stay close to the intriguing questions that won't let you go,” said Marek Kapička, Director of CERGE-EI. 

Professor Roth received the Nobel Prize in 2012 for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design. He has used the mathematical tools of game theory and economics to find solutions to broken systems, particularly those that revolve around pairings.

Štěpán Jurajda, the Mellon Endowment Professor with Tenure at CERGE-EI, further explained: “Professor Roth understands an economist as an engineer who not only tries to understand how things work, but who also helps to fix them or design them. He focuses on matching markets, where people can't just choose what they want and buy it, but where they also have to be chosen (for example, when they look for work, apply for high school or university, or need a transplant). His work has had a profound impact on education and healthcare, because it transformed how markets can be organized to benefit society. The pairing mechanisms of entrance exams are a very pressing topic in the Czech Republic, so we are very glad that this lecture took place here,” he added.

Photos of the event at CERGE-EI can be found here. A video recording of Professor Roth’s lecture from the Science at the Castle series can be found here.