CTA: SCRF is building a list of key readings in each category area. Comment in this thread with links to research that you might include in a graduate survey course on this category. Please include 1) a brief summary of what the link is, and 2) the rationale for including this particular piece in the SCRF Notable Works reading list.
As with every post in SCRF, a discussion is highly encouraged. Review one another’s suggestions and include your own. Syllabi and curated lists from other sources are also welcome.
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Mechanism Design Theory
- https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/advanced-economicsciences2007.pdf
- Prize Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- In 2007 Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, and Roger Myson were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their advancement of mechanism design theory.
- This paper delves into their works and discusses applications of the theories presented. It is a good foundation to gather other literature from regarding the evolution of mechanism design.
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Mechanism Theory
- Mechanism Theory by Matthew O. Jackson :: SSRN
- Matthew O. Jackson
- Different applications of mechanism design are presented, primarily using Dominant Strategy and Bayesian mechanism designs.
- Provides a mathematical basis and proofs for different types of mechanisms.
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Market Structure in Bitcoin Mining
- https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w24242/w24242.pdf
- June Ma, Joshua S. Gans, Rabee Tourky
- Analyzes the Proof-of-Work mechanism design, showing it formally maps onto dynamic game models.
- Provides a technical foundation for economic analysis of PoW protocols.
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Quadratic Voting: How Mechanism Design Can Radicalize Democracy
- Quadratic Voting: How Mechanism Design Can Radicalize Democracy by Steven Lalley, E. Glen Weyl :: SSRN
- Steven Lalley and E. Glen Weyl
- Introduces a mechanism where an individual’s voting power equals the square root of the number of votes cast. They prove a number of nice theoretical properties about this protocol.
- Novel application of cryptoeconomic design principles for governance. Applied in practice for Gitcoin quadratic funding.
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Credible Neutrality as a Guiding Principle
- Credible Neutrality As A Guiding Principle
- Vitalik Buterin
- Defines the concept of credible neutrality for a protocol.
- Provides an important framework for mechanism designers to qualitatively evaluate their protocols. Spawned other such principles such as governance minimization.
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Combinatorial Information Market Design
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1022058209073
- Robin Hanson
- Introduces the Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule (LMSR)
- LMSR provides a foundation for other market valuation models such as the “constant product automated market maker” utilized by Uniswap.