Navigate Hidden Markets With Judd Kessler – This Week’s Thinking With Mitch Joel Conversation

Episode #1015 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast) is now live and ready for you to listen to:

At a moment when scarcity shapes everything from opportunity to attention, understanding who gets what (and why) has become one of the most consequential questions in modern life. Judd Kessler is the inaugural Howard Marks Endowed Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an award-winning economist, and one of the leading thinkers in market design, public policy and behavioral economics. His research examines how rules, incentives, and institutional structures shape outcomes in environments where price alone cannot (or should not) decide allocation, from organ donation systems to education, labor markets, and beyond. Recognized early for his impact, Judd was named one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” in Law and Policy for his work on organ allocation and received the Vernon L. Smith Ascending Scholar Prize in 2021. His first (and new) book, Lucky by Design – The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want, distills years of research into how “hidden markets” – those governed by rules rather than prices – quietly determine access to jobs, schools, tickets, healthcare, and even relationships. Judd explores the mechanics of scarcity, the strategic role of lotteries, waiting lists, and signaling, and how individuals unknowingly participate in market design every day. He also examines how AI is beginning to reshape allocation systems, why visible markets increasingly contain hidden layers, and how better design can improve both efficiency and equity. Grounded in rigorous scholarship yet deeply practical, Judd’s work reframes luck not as randomness, but as something shaped by systems we can understand and sometimes redesign. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Thinking With Mitch Joel here (or feel free to subscribe via Apple Podcast or whatever platform you may choose): #1015 of Thinking With Mitch Joel (formerly Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast).

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