Sherwin Rosen

http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/srosen.html

"SHERWIN ROSEN WAS ONE of the great applied microeconomic theorists of recent decades. His life was devoted to understanding how diverse people, products, and technologies could be brought together and allocated appropriately. As an example of the kind of analyses that Rosen pioneered, consider the many varieties of automobiles that are produced. Some are higher quality than others, some are small, some are large, some fast, some slow, some are beautiful, and others are comfortable. People have different preferences with respect to these attributes. A larger person might prefer a larger car. A daredevil might like a faster one. How does the right car get to the right person? The obvious answer is that the market ensures that cars are available and consumers, through free choice, purchase the car they want. But at what price? How are the prices of the various attributes set so as to equate supply with demand, not just for some homogeneous commodity like wheat but also for some complex good like an automobile?"