Discovering Auctions: Contributions of Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson∗ Alexander Teytelboym† ○r Shengwu Li ‡ ○r Scott Duke Kominers§ ○r Mohammad Akbarpour¶ ○r Piotr Dworczak‖ March 13, 2021 Abstract The 2020 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson for \improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats." In this survey article, we review the contributions of the laureates, emphasizing the subtle interplay between deep theoreti- cal questions and practical design challenges that resulted in one of the most successful fields of economics. ∗We are grateful to Tommy Andersson, Susan Athey, Larry Ausubel, Martin Bichler, Eric Budish, Hung- po Chao, Peter Cramton, Constantinos Daskalakis, Robert Day, Jerry Green, John Hatfield, Bengt Holm- strom, Paul Klemperer, David Kreps, Jonathan Levin, Kevin Leyton-Brown, Preston McAfee, Meg Meyer, Rad Niazadeh, Shmuel Oren, Michael Ostrovsky, David Parkes, Marzena Rostek, Alvin Roth, Tim Rough- garden, Amin Saberi,and Ilya Segal for helpful conversations and comments; and especially to Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson for taking the time to discuss their work with us and for being such extraordinary teachers and mentors. Additionally, Kominers gratefully acknowledges the support the National Science Foundation (grant SES-1459912) and both the Ng Fund and the Mathematics in Economics Research Fund of the Harvard Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications. This work was also supported by the Economic and Social Research Council grant number ES/R007470/1. †Department of Economics and St. Catherine's College, University of Oxford. Email:
[email protected] ‡Department of Economics, Harvard University.