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Exchanging kidneys is a complicated process that involves multiple collaborations between kidney patients, living donors, transplant centers, insurance companies, airlines and more. It’s truly remarkable if you stop to think about the number of people and organizations that need to come together to make 1 paired exchange possible. We only started exchanging kidneys between non-compatible pairs a little over 20 years ago, so it’s a somewhat new process. Have you ever wondered how this was made possible?

Meet Nobel Laureate Al Roth who is an economist and Stanford University professor. Al designs markets. He’s one of the prominent players who has made kidney exchange possible. In a nutshell, his work has revolutionized kidney exchange around the world by using economic theory to make kidneys more available.

In October 2012, Al was the co-recipient of the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, together with Lloyd S. Shapley, for “ the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design."

Al Roth is well known for his application of economics to real world problems. In this podcast episode we touch a wide range of topics ranging from paired exchanges, prostitution, surrogacy, and more. All of these markets are examples of repugnant markets. Kidney Donation can be characterized as a repugnant market, and Al will tell us all about it!

Show Notes

Abundant/ CrowdSource for Life Film
Al Roth’s Blog
Al Roth’s Website
Freakonomics Make Me a Match Episode with Al Roth

Donor Diaries Website
Donor Diaries on Facebook