Editor's Note: Markets, however powerful they may be, do not always work as externalities that get in the way of social goals. How to reconcile individual goals with what society is aiming for? It's what mechanism design theory tries to figure out. In this edition of Leaders Talk, CMG's Zou Yun caught up with Eric Maskin at the International Congress of Basic Science held in Beijing in July. Professor Maskin lectures in economics and mathematics at Harvard University and was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory" in 2007. Maskin remarks that China's opening up has been critical to the country's "stunning progress" over the past 40 years. He voices concern about "forces that seem to drive the world apart" and says that trade barriers are counterproductive. "Science can bring us all together," he notes as he praises "beautiful ideas" that are simple to express, but powerful in their applications.