THE 2012 NOBEL PRIZE—SPEED DATING.

THE 2012 NOBEL PRIZE—SPEED DATING. Professors Alvin Roth and Lloyd Shapley have been awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics for mathematical models of matching which have very practical applications. In fact, it seems that the model is usually explained in terms of speed dating, and the origins of the model were in a paper on “College Admissions and the Stability of Marriage.” I found this article in the Economist helpful in understanding what their model achieves.Take the speed dating example. A solution to the “game ” is said to be stable if, when matches are completed, there is no man and woman who would rather be with each other rather than their assigned partner. The Economist article says: “Each man proposes to his highest-ranked woman. Each woman rejects all the proposals she gets except the highest-ranked among them. But she does not accept the proposal, in case a man she prefers even more proposes next time. The algorithm is rerun until all women have a satisfactory proposal.” (Yes, the sex making the choices comes out better). Other applications of the matching model are used by public-school systems to expand school choices for students and to match resident doctors to hospitals.