596. The Rules of Life’s Everyday Markets & How to Get Them to Work in Your Favor feat. Judd Kessler

Nov 11, 2025

In a captivating discussion, Judd Kessler, a Wharton School professor and author of *Lucky by Design*, delves into the intricacies of everyday markets. He reveals how non-price allocation mechanisms affect restaurant reservations, concert tickets, and college admissions. Judd explains the balance of efficiency, equity, and ease in market design, touching on the pitfalls of first-come, first-served systems and exploring innovative solutions like centralized matching. He also shares strategies for navigating these hidden markets to enhance your chances in life.

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INSIGHT

Hidden Markets Beat Prices Often

Many everyday markets don't use price to allocate scarce goods; they rely on other rules like first-come, first-served.
These "hidden markets" require different strategies than visible price-based markets.

ANECDOTE

French Laundry And LaBooBoo FOMO Example

Judd described French Laundry reservations releasing monthly and selling out in seconds despite high prices.
He compared modern fads like LaBooBoos and their drops or raffles to illustrate extreme excess demand.

INSIGHT

Low Prices Can Be Strategic

Sellers sometimes keep prices low to build buzz, protect access, or achieve non‑revenue goals.
Creators may accept secondary-market markups to keep events affordable and inclusive.

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What if you could find a strategy for gaming the systems all around to work more in your favor? If you did, then things like coveted restaurant reservations, scarce concert tickets, landing the dream job, or even admission to top colleges could become much more in reach.

Judd Kessler is a professor of business economics and public policy at the Wharton School and the author of Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want. The book acts as a guide for not only participants in the everyday markets that shape our lives, but also the designers of those markets.

Judd and Greg discuss the hidden markets that dictate restaurant reservations, concert tickets, college admissions, and even dating. They explore different market design strategies like allocation mechanisms, centralized clearinghouses, and signaling.

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Episode Quotes:

Why some markets don’t play by price rules

03:51: So many of the markets that we play in do not resolve themselves with the price rising. Either the price stays low because the seller wants it that way, and there's going to be excess demand—more people that want the thing than there are units available at that price—or we have decided as a society that we're not going to use prices to do the allocations, that it would be fundamentally unfair, or it would be fundamentally inefficient because we don't think your willingness to pay truly captures how much you value it.

How market participants get ahead by knowing the rules

01:33: When you are a market participant, you can do better by understanding the market rules and thinking about how to play in them.

The three E’s of a good market

13:59: A good market will achieve the three E's: efficiency, equity, and being easy for market participants. And so what you've just tapped into is efficiency. And that's what makes this subfield of economics interesting, that there is no mechanism that satisfies all three of those perfectly all the time.

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Guest Work:

Lucky by Design: The Hidden Economics You Need to Get More of What You Want

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