14.04 - Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
14.04 Intermediate Microeconomic Theory (Fall 2020, MIT OCW). Instructor: Prof. Robert M. Townsend. This course provides an introduction to theory and data designed to meet the needs of students interested in economic science. It provides an introduction to consumer choice, the theory of the firm, and general equilibrium models, with an overview of the main results and tools used in studying these topics, both directly in economics and indirectly in various other fields. This includes analysis of consumer and producer decisions, partial and general equilibrium analysis, insurance, the welfare theorems and failures of these theorems as with externalities but with resolutions, contract theory and mechanism design, policy analysis, the content of theory for data, and the design of media of exchange as with Bitcoin and markets made possible by distributed ledgers. (from ocw.mit.edu)
| Lecture 11 - Contracts and Mechanism Design |
Instructor: Prof. Robert M. Townsend. What exactly are smart contracts? The theory of mechanism design and the protocols for validation of decentralized ledgers are compared. Trust means different things to different people. Yet economics and computer science can come together. The tools of incentive compatibility, encryption, platforms, and programmability are explained and featured in key applications.
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