Alvin Roth is the Craig and Susan McCaw professor of economics at Stanford University and the Gund professor of economics and business administration emeritus at Harvard University. Born in New York City, Alvin Elliot Roth is an American academic contributing significantly to the fields of game theory, market design and experimental economics. In 2012, Roth became the recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences together with Lloyd Shapley for their work on the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design.

Graduating from Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1971 with a Bachelor's degree in Operations Research, he went on to obtain his Master’s and Ph.D. degree in Operations Research from Stanford University.

Roth is an Alfred P. Sloan fellow, a Guggenheim fellow, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the Econometric Society. In 2013, Roth, Shapley, and David Gale won a Golden Goose Award for their work on market design. He is also an author and a publisher of well over 70 journals.