First African Search and Matching Workshop

First African Search and Matching Workshop
The Bernoulli Center for Economics (University of Basel), the Search and Matching Research Group and the INREDD group (Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech) have hosted the First African Search and Matching Workshop. The three-day workshop has taken place at the Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech – Morocco, on May 21st – 23rd 2014.

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Description of the Topic
Due to information asymmetries, limited commitment, and spatial separation, it takes time and effort to find a trading partner and to reach agreement on the terms of transactions. Search theory is a powerful new device to analyze such frictions and has led to tremendous progress in our understanding of market processes and outcomes. This approach allows for a better design of policies that mitigate these frictions and improve market outcomes. The usefulness of search theory is widely recognized, and in 2010, its founders Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen, and Christopher A. Pissarides were awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics ”for their analysis of markets with search frictions.” Search models applied to labor markets have revolutionized our understanding of labor markets and macroeconomics. In monetary economics, the so-called New Monetarist approach studies the role of media of exchange, and it is applied to monetary policy, financial intermediation, or the economics of payment systems. In finance, the search approach is steadily gaining ground, and many other fields such as development economics or industrial organization are beginning to use search theoretic methods. The objective of the workshop is to bring together people from all fields in search theory to initiate more collaboration. The choice of the conference venue in Marrakech has several reasons. First, we intend to foster collaboration between the University of Basel and the Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech. Second, development economics is a promising but underdeveloped area of search theory and we intend to promote it by having two sessions devoted to it. Third, we hope to convince more young African researchers to apply search theoretic methods in their research.

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Schedule
A detailed schedule can be found here.

Organizers

  • Professor Aleksander Berentsen (University of Basel)
  • Professor Mustapha Ziky (Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech)

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