b. 1939
Edward H. Clarke is an American economist and public choice theorist best known for developing the Clarke tax (Clarke mechanism), a demand-revealing process for eliciting truthful preference revelation in public goods provision. His 1971 paper 'Multipart Pricing of Public Goods' laid foundational groundwork for what became the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism, a cornerstone of modern mechanism design and social choice theory.
Developed the Clarke mechanism (Clarke tax) for truthful preference revelation in public goods contexts
Co-originated the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism, foundational to auction theory and mechanism design
Advanced the theory of demand revelation as a solution to the free-rider problem in public goods provision
Authored 'Demand Revelation and the Provision of Public Goods' (1980)
Contributed to the formal economic analysis of what qualifies as a public good versus private good