Research Summary
Research Summary
The Design of Mechanisms and Institutions
Description
Professor Coughlan's research also investigates the design of public policy and collective choice institutions. His research publications have applied game theory, mechanism design, and laboratory experiments to explore incentives and outcomes under alternative legal, political, and social choice institutions. Professor Coughlan's current research in this area applies laboratory experimentation and field testing to the design and implementation of internal 'prediction markets' for information aggregation and forecasting within firms. Bridging the gap between his public policy and business management interests, Professor Coughlan has also served as a co-founder and organizer of an annual conference series on Management Strategy and the Business Environment which brings together researchers interested in the connections between business management and the legal, political, and social environment. This conference series has rotated among the Harvard Business School, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for the past four years.