Finite automata crossing the border into economics

The present paper attempts to elucidate the prevalence of the computer metaphor in economics by demonstrating that mechanism design theorists have conceived of organizations as computers. After providing a brief discussion of the intellectual background of the emergence of mechanism design theory. the paper portrays the standard conceptual framework of mechanism design theory. As a concrete illustration of the significance of the computer metaphor in coming into being of the standard conceptual framework under discussion, the paper also offers a discussion of the academic career of a pioneer of mechanism design theory, Stanley Reiter.