One of the world’s leading economists delivered the inaugural Andrews and Brunner Lecture. Nobel Prize winner Professor Alvin Roth addressed an audience of academics, business leaders and members of the public in Lancaster University Management School.

Alvin Roth, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and Professor Emeritus of Economics and Business Administration at Harvard, won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2012, along with Lloyd Shapley, for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design.

He has made ground-breaking contributions in the field of market design, experimental economics, and game theory, with his work influencing economic theory and computer science and helping to solve real-world problems.

In his lecture, Professor Roth gave a fascinating insight into numerous controversial markets and the ways in which repugnance can act as a restraint to these areas, which may lead to black markets.

In particular, he focused on the creation of kidney exchanges as an innovative solution to overcome repugnance constraints and match patient-donor pairs. The kidney chain method works by pairing non-directed donors with a suitable recipient, creating the opportunity for endless chains thereby saving numerous lives.

Professor Eyal Winter, P.W.S. Andrews and Elizabeth Brunner Chair in Industrial Economics in Lancaster University Management School’s Department of Economics, was delighted to be welcoming Professor Roth, who oversaw his post-doctoral studies.

Head of the Department of Economics, Professor Maurizio Zanardi said, "It was an honour to have Alvin Roth for the inaugural Andrews and Brunner Lecture Series. His lecture on controversial markets highlighted lesser-known areas that economists study and that can have fundamental impact on societies (such as kidney exchange). Alvin's work demonstrates the importance of the impact of research activities -- an aspect that is very much at the forefront of the research carried out in our Department."

Professor Roth’s lecture is the first by a Nobel Prize winner in Economics to be given at Lancaster University, and marks the start of a series of lectures presented by renowned figures of the economics profession.

This inaugural lecture commemorates PWS Andrews and Elizabeth Brunner, two leading figures who significantly contributed to the success of the Economics Department from 1967 to 1983. Both Andrews and Brunner supported the nascent University’s growing reputation in Economics. They are fondly remembered by former students who benefited from their teaching.