Free exchange--Winning bids?

The Nobel prize for economics rewards advances in auction theory?

經濟學人10月刊

up主：上海的車牌拍賣和北京的車牌搖號是非常典型的資源分配采用不同模式。

Much like Mr Roth, who helped design market mechanisms to match sick patients with kidney donors, Messrs Milgrom and Wilson put the knowledge gained from their theoretical work to practical use. Before the early 1990S, America’s government used?unwieldy methods to allocate portions of the radio spectrum?to interested telecoms companies. Bidders either explained why they deserved a slice of spectrum more than others (and spent vast sums of money on?lobbying), or were allocated slices through lotteries. Neither led to an efficient allocation. In 1993 Congress allowed the Federal Communications Commission to use auctions instead. Yet it was not clear how these might work. Bidders had wildly varying assessments of how slices of spectrum might be used, and the value of one piece of spectrum often depended critically on what other parts an owner also controlled. The laureates?worked with another economist, Preston McAfee, now at Google, to invent a new format, known as the “simultaneous multiple-round auction” (smRA).?Participants may bid on all items in a number of rounds, after each of which some information about bids and prices is revealed to the bidders.?When first used in 1994, smRA raised $617m for an American government that had previously earned almost nothing from its distributions of spectrum rights.

Unwieldy??adj. /?n?wi?ldi/ ?1.( 東西 ) 笨重的；笨拙的；不靈巧的?2.( 體制或團體 ) ?難控制（或操縱、管理）的；運轉不靈的；尾大不掉的

radio spectrum?無線電頻譜 spectrum ?n. /?spektr?m/ 光譜、范圍、頻譜

Lobby：n，大廳，游說，游說團體?v，進行游說~ (sb) (for/against sth) 游說（從政者或政府）?Farmers will lobby Congress for higher subsidies. 農民將游說國會提高對農業(yè)的補貼。

Laureate /?l?ri?t/ ?1.榮譽獲得者；獲獎者??a Nobel laureate 諾貝爾獎獲得者

simultaneous multiple-round auction：同步多輪競拍

simultaneous ?adj. /?s?ml?te?ni?s/ ?同時發(fā)生（或進行）的；同步的 ? There were several simultaneous attacks by the rebels. 反叛者同時發(fā)動了幾起攻擊?！imultaneous translation/interpreting 同聲傳譯

smRA-style auctions are now used routinely in many countries and in contexts other than spectrum sales--in selling electricity, for instance. Questions of distribution have continued to motivate the prizewinners’ research and led to the development of other specialised auction formats. Messrs Milgrom and Wilson became the embodiment?of the economist as engineer, using theory to?devise a solution to a practical problem. It is an approach Sweden’s Royal Academy of Science seems to admire. This year’s award is the third since 2007 to honour “mechanism design”, or the use of economic principles to design markets to solve real-world problems.

embodiment ?n. /?m?b?dim?nt/ ?~ of sth （體現一種思想或品質的）典型，化身?? He is the embodiment of the young successful businessman. 他是成功青年企業(yè)家的典型。

devise ?v. /d??va?z/ ?to invent sth new or a new way of doing sth 發(fā)明；設計；想出?devise a solution：設計解決問題模式

The economist’s lot

The pursuit of economics as a form of engineering means that Messrs Milgrom and Wilson are more?enmeshed?in the real world than the typical academic.?Both have consulted for regulators and firms. Mr Milgrom advised Time Warner and?Comcast?on their participation in radio-spectrum auctions in 2006; his efforts helped save his clients more than $ibn. In 2009 he co-founded a firm, Auctionomics, that provides consulting services to those looking to operate and to bid in auctions (many of the sort designed by the prizewinners).

Enmesh ?v. /?n?me?/ ?~ sb/sth (in sth) ?使陷入，使卷入（困境等）?常用被動語態(tài)

Time Warner：時代華納 ????Comcast?康卡斯特（美國最大的有線系統(tǒng)公司）

It is a different sort of work from that which many aspiring scholars imagine themselves to be pursuing. But the rewards the laureates have reaped in academia and beyond certainly advertise the power wielded by economic engineers.

aspiring ?adj./??spa??r??/ 1. 渴望從事…的；有志成為…的?Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想當音樂家就要每天練許多小時。 2.有抱負的；有志向的?He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱負的工人階級家庭

Reap??v./ri?p/ ?1. 取得（成果）；收獲??They are now reaping the rewards of all their hard work. 現在，他們的全部辛勞都得到了回報。 2. 收割（莊稼）；收獲

IDIOMS 習語

1. REAP A/THE ?HARVEST 享受成果；承擔后果；種瓜得瓜，種豆得豆

2. YOU ?REAP WHAT YOU ?SOW 種瓜得瓜，種豆得豆

wield ?v. /wi?ld/ ?1. 擁有，運用，行使，支配（權力等）?She wields enormous power within the party. 她操縱著黨內大權。 2. 揮，操，使用（武器、工具等）?He was wielding a large knife. 他揮舞著一把大刀。

譯文

Much like Mr Roth, who helped design market mechanisms to match sick patients with kidney donors, Messrs Milgrom and Wilson put the knowledge gained from their theoretical work to practical use. Before the early 1990S, America’s government used?unwieldy methods to allocate portions of the radio spectrum?to interested telecoms companies. Bidders either explained why they deserved a slice of spectrum more than others (and spent vast sums of money on?lobbying), or were allocated slices through lotteries. Neither led to an efficient allocation. In 1993 Congress allowed the Federal Communications Commission to use auctions instead. Yet it was not clear how these might work. Bidders had wildly varying assessments of how slices of spectrum might be used, and the value of one piece of spectrum often depended critically on what other parts an owner also controlled. The laureates?worked with another economist, Preston McAfee, now at Google, to invent a new format, known as the “simultaneous multiple-round auction” (smRA).?Participants may bid on all items in a number of rounds, after each of which some information about bids and prices is revealed to the bidders.?When first used in 1994, smRA raised $617m for an American government that had previously earned almost nothing from its distributions of spectrum rights.

Messrs Milgrom和Wilson很像Roth先生，一位為病人和腎臟捐獻者匹配設計了市場機制匹配模式。他倆也將自己理論知識運用實際。90年代初期以前，美國政府運用笨拙的方式為感興趣的電信公司分配無線電頻譜。競價人要么要求解釋為什么自己是更合適的公司（當然也要花大量的金錢游說），要么全靠抽獎分配，兩者都沒有做到有效分配。1993年國會準許聯邦通信委員會采用拍賣模式分配。但是它如何運作未知，當時的競價者對頻段的用途評估各種各樣，而且頻段的價值非常依賴買家自己手上的其他頻段。獲獎者與另一位經濟學家一起工作，Preston McAfee，現在在google，共同發(fā)明了同步多輪競拍（smRA）。參拍者可以多輪競拍所有拍賣標的，之后所有標的及競價都將公開給競拍者。1994年第一次使用‘同步多輪競拍’就為美國政府籌集6.17億美元，而以前分配頻段沒產生任何效益。

smRA-style auctions are now used routinely in many countries and in contexts other than spectrum sales--in selling electricity, for instance. Questions of distribution have continued to motivate the prizewinners’ research and led to the development of other specialised auction formats. Messrs Milgrom and Wilson became the embodiment?of the economist as engineer, using theory to?devise a solution to a practical problem. It is an approach Sweden’s Royal Academy of Science seems to admire. This year’s award is the third since 2007 to honour “mechanism design”, or the use of economic principles to design markets to solve real-world problems.

同步多輪競拍現今被多國廣泛應用，不僅僅是頻段拍賣，例如電力分配。分配的問題推動諾獎獲得者持續(xù)研究，從而促進其他特殊拍賣形式的發(fā)展。Messrs Milgrom 與?Wilson成為“經濟學家既工程師”的化身，運用理論設計實際問題的解決方法。瑞典皇家科學院似乎對此種途徑情有獨鐘。這已經是諾獎第三次為“機制設計”方面頒獎，或者說是為用經濟法則設計市場機制來解決現實世界問題的研究成果進行頒獎。

The economist’s lot

The pursuit of economics as a form of engineering means that Messrs Milgrom and Wilson are more?enmeshed?in the real world than the typical academic.?Both have consulted for regulators and firms. Mr Milgrom advised Time Warner and?Comcast?on their participation in radio-spectrum auctions in 2006; his efforts helped save his clients more than $ibn. In 2009 he co-founded a firm, Auctionomics, that provides consulting services to those looking to operate and to bid in auctions (many of the sort designed by the prizewinners).

經濟學家的命運

追求經濟學工程化意味著Messrs Milgrom 與?Wilson更貼近現實社會而不是學術世界。兩者都為監(jiān)管者和公司提供咨詢。2006年，Milgrom為時代華納和康卡斯特（美國最大的有線系統(tǒng)公司）參加無線電頻段競拍提供過咨詢；他為他的客戶節(jié)省超過十億美元的支出。2009年，他聯合創(chuàng)辦了Auctionomics公司為需求方提供運營、拍賣咨詢方案（大部分這些方案由得獎人設計）。

It is a different sort of work from that which many aspiring scholars imagine themselves to be pursuing. But the rewards the laureates have reaped in academia and beyond certainly advertise the power wielded by economic engineers.

這種工作有別于許多有抱負的學者設想的畢生追求。但他們的學術成就及其他回報明確彰顯了經濟工程學所操控的能量。