# Redistributive Allocation Mechanisms

> How marketplace designers can think about the tradeoffs between efficiency and equity. Many scarce public resources are allocated at below-market-clearing prices, and sometimes for free. These “non-market” mechanisms sacrifice some surplus, yet they can potentially improve equity. In this talk, Scot...

- URL: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/videos/redistributive-allocation-mechanisms
- Authors: [Scott Duke Kominers](https://a16zcrypto.com/team/scott-kominers)
- Published: 2022-07-30
- Updated: 2025-01-29
- Focus areas: research
- Tags: economics, mechanism design, video
- Format: videos

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How marketplace designers can think about the tradeoffs between efficiency and equity.

Many scarce public resources are allocated at below-market-clearing prices, and sometimes for free. These “non-market” mechanisms sacrifice some surplus, yet they can potentially improve equity. In this talk, Scott Kominers (a16z crypto research, Harvard Business School) presents a model of mechanism design with redistributive concerns with many applications.

[Embedded media](https://www.youtube.com/embed/X9Y12Pri_dI?feature=oembed)

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