Professor Eric Maskin, Nobel Laureate, to Lecture at SASA

Тhe Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts had the honour of welcoming Professor Eric Maskin, a full professor at Harvard University and a Nobel laureate in economics in 2007 , who delivered a lecture titled ’An Introduction to Mechanism Design’ on 23 June, at the SASA Grand Hall.

This lecture provided a unique opportunity for the domestic academic community, students, researchers and the broader public to hear one of the most distinguished contemporary economists, whose papers have shaped modern economic theory, public policies and the understanding of how institutions work.

Born in New York on 12 December 1950, Maskin graduated in mathematics from Harvard College in 1972. Two years later, he obtained a Master’s Degree in applied mathematics, and he received a doctorate in the same field in 1976 from Harvard University. During 1975 and 1976, he was a visiting student at Darwin College, University of Cambridge.

During his career, Maskin made a substantial contribution to the development of game theory, incentive economics, contract theory and mechanism design. Together with Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson, he was awarded the Nobel Prize, ’for laying the foundations of mechanism design theory’, a subject which has been considerably incorporated into forming economic policies, auctions, market institutions and decision-making systems.

Additionally, jointly with Jean Tirole, Maskin advanced the concept of Markov perfect equilibrium. His research projects also addressed different electoral rules, the causes of inequality, coalition decision-making and the functioning of democratic institutions.

The lecture was organised as part of the accompanying programme of the 21st World Congress of the International Economic Association (IEA), hosted by the Serbian Association of Economists and held in Belgrade from 22 to 26 June 2026.