Lucky by Design

A WHARTON ECONOMIST AND MARKET DESIGNER PULLS BACK THE CURTAIN ON HIDDEN MARKETS THAT DETERMINE WHO GETS WHAT IN EVERYDAY LIFE, REVEALING HOW TO TIP THE SCALES IN YOUR FAVOR.

What's the secret to scoring a reservation at a hot new restaurant? When should you enter a lottery to increase your chances of winning? Why did your neighbor's kid get into a nearby preschool while yours didn't? Who gets priority for a lifesaving organ donation?

These outcomes are not a matter of luck. Instead, they depend on how we navigate hidden markets that decide who gets what when there isn't enough to go around. Every day we play in these markets, yet few of us fully understand how they work.

In familiar markets, what we get depends on how much we're willing to pay. Hidden markets do not rely on prices: You can't buy your way into a better position. Instead, what you receive hinges on the rules by which the market operates and the choices you make in them.

Judd Kessler has spent a career studying and designing these very markets. Now he reveals the secrets of how they work and how to maneuver in them. Whether you want to snag a coveted ticket, secure a spot in an oversubscribed college course, get better matches in the dating and job markets, do your fair share-and nothing more-of the household chores, or more efficiently allocate your time and attention, this must-read guide will show you how to get Lucky by Design.

"Judd Kessler expertly explains how to recognize and navigate the many hidden markets that determine what you get and why, delivering actionable advice from the still-emerging field of market design."-Alvin E. Roth, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Who Gets What-and Why