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The design and performation of markets: a discussion

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Notes

  1. As marketers well know, “market” is also both a verb and a noun.

  2. Substantialism equates economy with production and consumption activities, while formalism considers that optimizing agents constitute the essence of economy.

  3. Al: let me put in a quick word here to note that Tirole in particular has made important contributions to our understanding of the regulation of markets, and the design of platforms.

  4. Michel: Good point. It is true that the proposed classification makes one think of the long journey that leads Dante from hell to heaven! Fortunately, we are not at the end of the journey. There are still nine skies to cross before reaching serenity.

  5. This literature includes some approaches that could also fit in different levels of your taxonomy: “work-centered design, emerging from cognitive engineering and cognitive systems engineering; interaction design, emerging from industrial and communication design; and participatory design, emerging from the Scandinavian labor movement.” (Evenson et al., 2008). I think my own evolution as a designer has profited quite a bit from being married to a pioneer of cognitive engineering, which brought to the fore in human factors consideration of what information is needed by workers to solve the problems they face.

  6. The French term "ingénieur généraliste" is not easy to translate. It refers to an engineer with a solid background in basic science and technology and sometimes in humanities, but who is not specialized in a well defined technological subfield.

  7. They may be competitors, regulatory bodies, or various social movements. As one will have understood, I refrain from making any judgment and focus on mechanisms.

  8. a) and b) show that the data are not given but generated.

  9. I chose the word dominance to translate the French term emprise (which can also be translated as grip). It is interesting to note that the French etymology of the word entreprise is precisely emprise. Every entreprise is an emprise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Des Mines ParisTech, 60 Boulevard Saint Michel, 75272 Cedex 06, Paris, France

    Michel Callon

  2. Landau Economics Building, Stanford University, 579 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA, 94305-6072, USA

    Alvin E. Roth

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  1. Michel Callon
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  2. Alvin E. Roth
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Correspondence to Michel Callon.

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This discussion between Alvin Roth and Michel Callon is the result of a series of e-mail exchanges over the course of 18 months. It was triggered by an invitation extended to both authors to contribute to this special section of AMS Review on theories of markets. The discussion starts off with direct responses to the question put by Hans Kjellberg in his preceding commentary, which introduces the work of Roth and Callon, respectively. Then follows a discussion that touches upon, develops, and clarifies a number of issues related to the two authors’ respective positions on and approaches to markets and their organizing.

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Callon, M., Roth, A.E. The design and performation of markets: a discussion. AMS Rev 11, 219–239 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-021-00216-w

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