Details for Talk on: 06.11.2017

Speaker: Prof. Noam Nisan

Title: The Complexity of Pricing

Abstract: As economic systems "move" to the Internet, they can become much more complex and this new complexity often becomes their defining characteristic. We will consider a very simple scenario of this form: a single seller that is selling multiple items to a single buyer.  We will discuss the question of how complex must the pricing scheme be in order for the seller to maximize (approximately, at least) his revenue.

Based on joint works with Sergiu Hart, with Shaddin Duhgmi and Li Han and with Moshe Babioff and Yannai Gonczarowski.

Speaker's Bio: Noam Nisan is a professor of Computer Science and a member of the Center of Rationality at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He previously held senior research positions at Microsoft Research and Google. His research deals with the border of Computer Science, Economic Theory, and Game Theory, focusing on Electronic Markets and Auctions. A pioneer in the field of algorithmic game theory, Prof. Nisan was awarded the 2012 Gödel prize for his development of algorithmic mechanism design and the 2016 Knuth prize for fundamental and lasting contributions to several areas of theoretical computer science. Prof. Nisan is a fellow of the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory. He holds a PhD in computer science from UC Berkeley, where he was advised by Richard Karp.