Eric Maskin

What does mathematics have to do with democracy? According to Eric Maskin, everything.

Maskin is the Adams University Professor of Economics and Mathematics at Harvard. It is one of the most prestigious appointments in American academia. In 2007, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, shared with Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson, for laying the foundations of mechanism design theory.

Eric Maskin’s work has shaped the privatisation of state-owned enterprises in Poland, reformed the way Italy sells treasury bonds, and helped the British government design CO2 restrictions for electricity companies following the Kyoto Protocol.

His recent work focuses on the voting systems that underpin democracy itself. His argument is precise and provocative. Modern electoral systems, he contends, are structurally designed to produce polarisation. First-past-the-post voting systematically eliminates moderate candidates and rewards those who are loudest and most divisive. The result is a political landscape increasingly hostile to compromise and deeply damaging to economic stability.

The solution, Maskin suggests, was proposed over two centuries ago. French mathematician Marie-Jean de Condorcet advocated for ranked-choice voting, a system that allows voters to order candidates by preference rather than choose just one. The winner is the candidate who, in direct head-to-head comparisons, would defeat every other rival. It is, in his view, the mechanism most likely to elect the candidate preferred by the true majority — typically a centrist, and the least polarising option available.

In Alaska, a citizens’ initiative introduced ranked-choice voting in 2022. It proved so effective that voters chose to keep it in a 2024 referendum. For Maskin, it is proof that change is possible and it must come from citizens rather than politicians. They have little incentive to reform systems that already work in their favour.

Beyond voting, Eric Maskin’s intellectual range is striking. A Harvard graduate who also studied at Cambridge, he has made significant contributions to game theory, contract theory, social choice theory and political economy. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, holds 18 honorary degrees, and has authored / edited four books and 145 peer-reviewed articles.