John Ledyard (economist)

John Odell Ledyard (* 1943 ) is an American economist , computer scientist and university professor .

Career, research and teaching

Ledyard first studied at Wabash College , which he left in 1963 with the title of Artium Baccalaureus . He then moved to Purdue University , where he received his Master of Science degree in 1965 and a Ph.D. two years later. graduated. From 1967 he was an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University , which he left in 1970 for Northwestern University . Here he rose to associate professor in 1971 before being appointed full professor in 1975. After a brief hiatus from 1977 to 1978 as a fellow at the California Institute of Technology , he returned to Northwestern University, where he was promoted to Dean of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences in 1982. In 1983 he was appointed to the Sydney G. Harris Chair of Social Sciences at Northwestern University, which he gave up in 1985 in favor of a professorship at the California Institute of Technology. There he was appointed to the Allen and Lenabelle Davis Professorship in 2002 . In 1999 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Ledyard's work focuses on the theoretical description of the mechanism design theory and its practical application. He was involved in the development of computer-based models for emissions trading , resource management and the exchange of rarely traded securities. Together with Theodore Groves , he developed a model for describing the optimal allocation of public goods, which found its way into scientific literature under the name Groves-Ledyard Mechanism .

Web links

• Official profile at the California Institute of Technology