Teoria dels mecanismes
More than an economist, you are a mathematician. That is it, I obtained my PhD in mathematics from the University of Harvard, but I applied from the start my knowledge towards social sciences. I started analyzing the ‘luck factor’ in games, later I went on to research the role of the incentives in the contracts and ended up with the design of the mechanisms of economic intervention that gave me the Nobel Prize in Economy in 2007.
You have set the controversy by arguing, though quietly, that to raise taxes in a full recessionary phase is not a good idea. You also provoked in their day, the software multinationals, arguing that a staunch defence of patents blocked progress. I say what I think, but I also think what I say. Regarding the patents, I want to make it clear that they have a useful function in economy as well as being a motor of progress. However, the software patents could be the exception to this rule.
Why? When each time scientists think of new software they have to pay royalties to the manufacturers of the previous one in order to develop their project, nothing will be done. The owners of the patent software believe that with the patent they suffocate any possible competition when, in reality, they only serve to hinder the development of something new; they claim part of the bounty that can end up discouraging the designers of new software.
You propose a mechanism, when the market wants results. The result is an equation that takes into account what is produced and distributed, but the financial market operates on mechanisms and not results. The mechanism takes into account the impact of the result on the whole economic scenario. The charges, taxes or environmental taxes are mechanisms that have governed the economic relations of men for centuries. When a government is experiencing a deficit without more, or an increase in the unemployment rate, it is just a result, a bad one in this case. Privatizing public enterprises, exploring measures to promote employment, regardless of whether the results will be good or not, the government in question will have activated mechanisms that affect all actors of the economic theatre. The type of commercial management of markets is a good mechanism.
Is sustainability also a good mechanism? In economic terms no, it is a very good result. When designing mechanisms, one is trying to impose those that may result or not in sustainability.
THE GAME OF CHOOSING AN ENERGETIC SOURCE
Maskin often uses a couple of characters,Bob and Alice, to set examples in their disquisitions. When he explainsthat in the mechanisms personal goals actively intervene, referring toenergy supply: "Bob´s main value is the environmental impact and underthese criteria, he gives priority to gas, followed by oil, coal andnuclear energy. Alice, however, gives more importance to the localvalue of the supply; hence she opts for homeland energy and does notwant to rely on foreign energy sources. In this case, she can placenuclear energy and coal amongst her preferences and put oil and gas inthe background.
Let´s assumethat both are neighbours and for strategic reasons, they have to sharethe same source of energy. Carbon and oil have more possibilities ofending up as a consensus energy source, with the paradox that neitherof them is, really, the source of preference for both clients. “Theresult of an economic operation, as in this case the election of anenergy source, does not obey the rational or theoretical factors, butprecise contracted decisions, agreed upon, where it is difficult thateverybody ends up winning and in which, on the other hand, it ispossible that all end up losing. To summarize, like in any game, thereis more chance to lose than to win“.
