Traditional definitions of microeconomics emphasise the study of the rational decisions of individuals who face scarcity. Nowadays, perhaps intriguingly, the practice of microeconomics has more to do with the definition by Karl Marx: "Economics is the relationship between men disguised as a relationship between things." Indeed, a large proportion of current microeconomic research deals with strategic interaction mediated by institutions, which are often designed with an explicit objective to obtain the best possible outcome.
The UPF Microeconomics research group is no exception. A large part of research effort is devoted to two main lines of research: First, studying the positive theories of strategic behavior. Second, the application of those theories to the design of mechanisms and incentive schemes in private organisations and public sectors. Through its research on strategic behavior, the group is especially well known for its contributions to the understanding of learning processes and evolutionary dynamics as a foundation of equilibrium concepts. Within mechanism design, the group's most important contributions have been in the implementation theory of social choice functions, in auctions, and in procurement mechanisms. Other relevant research lines deal with the relationship between communication processes and strategic interaction, the refinement of equilibrium concepts, and applications within industrial organisation and political economy.
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