E. Glen
Weyl (doc version pdf version)
E-mail: weyl@fas.harvard.edu
Cell phone:
+1 (617) 599-8919
Primary academic:
Harvard
Society of Fellows
78
Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge,
MA 02138
+1 (617) 496-2655
Office
15
Personal:
41
Kirkland Street, Apt. 305
Cambridge,
MA 02138
Born:
May 6, 1985
Citizenship:
USA
Marital
status: engaged to Alisha C. Holland
EDUCATION AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
A.B.
in Economics (2007), Valedictorian; certificates in Finance
and Applications
of Computing; senior thesis: “The
Price Theory of Two-Sided Markets”
M.A.,
Ph.D. in Economics (2008), dissertation: “Essays in Industrial Organization and
Economic Methodology”
Economics fields: industrial
organization, microeconomic theory, market design, labor economics, public
finance, finance, history of economic thought, econometrics, behavioral
economics
Research interests outside economics: evolutionary
theory, political philosophy, philosophy of probability and science, applied
linear algebra, machine learning and statistics
PRIMARY EMPLOYMENT
Junior
Fellow at the Society
of Fellows, Harvard University
(2008-present)
Post-Doctoral
Fellow, Department
of Economics, Harvard University (2008-present)
Recurrent
Visiting Researcher, Toulouse
School of Economics (TSE) (2008-present)
Summer
economic analysis clerk at the Economic Analysis Group of the Department
of Justice Division of Antitrust (2006)
Quantitative
analyst at New York City hedge fund Blue
Mountain Capital Management. Used
statistical financial modeling to design an arbitrage strategy (2005)
PUBLISHED AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
“Whose Rights? A Critique of Individual
Agency as the Basis of Rights,” Politics, Philosophy and Economics, 2009, 8(2), 139-171.
“Monopoly, Ramsey and Lindahl in Rochet and Tirole (2003),” Economics Letters, 2009, 103(2), 99-100.
“A Price Theory of Multi-Sided Platforms,” forthcoming
in the American Economic Review.
UNPUBLISHED (WORKING) PAPERS
“Biasing Auctions,” Princeton
University, April 2006.
“The Price
Theory of Two-Sided Markets,”
Harvard University. First
version: December 2006, revised and submitted March 2009.
“Simon Kuznets: Economist of the Russian Jewish Diaspora,” Princeton
University, May 2007.
“A Simple Theory of Scientific Learning,” Princeton
University, September 2007.
“Is Arbitrage Socially Beneficial?” Princeton
University, October 2007.
“Psychic Income, Taxes and the Allocation of Talent,” Princeton
University, December 2007.
“Double
Marginalization in Two-Sided Markets,” Harvard University and TSE, July 2008.
“Pass-Through as an Economic Tool” with Michal
Fabinger, Harvard University. First version: July 2008, revised
and submitted April 2009.
SOFTWARE
“Apt
Demand Toolkit” with Yali Miao, Harvard University, April 2009.
WORK IN PROGRESS
“Solving
the Holdout Problem” with Scott Duke
Kominers, Harvard University. (Coming soon)
Drawing on Cournot (1838), we show that market design is more important
for the holdout problem, as in land assembly and corporate acquisitions, than
in auctions. To solve it, we propose the Concordance
principle, inspired by Cournot's theory of concours de producteur: use
objective information on value shares as a pivot. This allows
substantial efficiency and approximate protection of property rights.
Standard auction procedures enforce truth-telling, with well-known
trade-offs.
“Mutualists Don't Look Back in Anger” with Megan E. Frederickson, Doug
W. Yu, and Naomi E. Pierce, Harvard University. (Coming soon)
We use
economic theory to propose a general methodology for testing whether natural Partner
Fidelity Feedback (PFF) is sufficient to maintain a mutualism or whether Host
Sanctions (HS) play a role. Implementing these experimentally on an
ant-plant (Allomerus octoarticulatis-Cordia nodosa)
mutualism and reinterpreting existing data on Rhizobia-legume
interactions we find strong evidence for PFF.
“Creative Genius and the Free Enterprise System” with Jean Tirole, Harvard
University and TSE.
It is
difficult to provide a coherent defense of the free enterprise system (FES),
and in particular patents, where temporary monopoly rewards innovation.
We provide a mechanism design framework for analyzing the reward of innovation,
under asymmetric information about the costs and eventual demand. Using
variational calculus to analyze the resulting non-standard multidimensional
screening problem we establish the Friedman conjecture that the FES is
optimal if and only if the existence of rare, materialistic, creative genius is
a primary source of gains from innovation.
“A Practical Test for D-Stability” with Yali
Miao, Harvard University (Coming very soon…)
We propose
an intuitive, quick algorithm for testing the D-stability of large matrices.
The algorithm never gives a false answer and while it may fail to give an
answer, we show through simulations that this virtually never occurs in
practice. Accompanying software implements the algorithm.
“Slutsky meets Marschak: First-Order Identification of
Multiproduct Monopoly,” Harvard University.
A common
empirical strategy (Chetty 2009) is to use a theoretical model to link an
observable local average treatment effect (LATE) to some quantity of
interest. I formalize the first-order identification problem of
determining which LATEs must be observed to identify a desired quantity,
given particular theoretical assumptions. I illustrate the problem with
the case of multiproduct monopoly. The Slutsky conditions for firm
optimization provide a strategy for identifying many things, from the effect of
price regulation on investment to learning-by-doing/demand accumulation and
two-sided markets models. They also provide tests of monopolistic
behavior in a range of contexts.
“Imperfect Platform Competition: A General Framework” with Alex White, Harvard
University and TSE.
Perhaps the
longest-standing problem in the theory of two-sided markets is developing a
general model of competition. We are taking a crack at this, using Weyl
(2009)’s insulated equilibrium as a solution concept to eliminate much
multiplicity. Our framework allows essential arbitrary preference and
heterogeneity structures. Generalizing classic structural IO models
(Berry et. al. 1995, Gentzkow 2007) it lends itself to empirical
applications. At the same time its simple equilibrium conditions allow
explicit comparative static analysis.
“Persuasion
by Argument” with Barry Mazur, Harvard University.
Arguments
often show that A is equivalent to B. Whether on hearing such an argument
we should believe that the joint probability of A and B is what we formerly
thought the probability of A was, or that of B, depends on which probability was
more self-evident. Based on these ideas, we develop an axiomatic
probabilistic semantics for rational persuasion.
“The Correspondence Principle and the Law of Demand,” Harvard
University.
The law of
demand is perhaps the most fundamental principle of economics, yet conventional
wisdom in game and general equilibrium theory suggests it holds in equilibrium
only under stringent conditions. We show, to the contrary, that Samuelson
(1941)’s local correspondence principle, that stability conditions sign
basic comparative statics, holds extremely generally (N-player games,
non-differentiable payoffs) so long as a reasonable notion of stability is
considered. We also establish a global correspondence principle:
the global version of the appropriate stability condition is equivalent to a
strong form of equilibrium uniqueness. Systems governed by the dynamic
our notion of stability suggests obey the law of demand.
“Unions
as Tax Collectors” with Ben Sachs, Harvard University.
Optimal tax
theory calls for economic profits to be taxed and redistributed, but corporate
profits taxes in practice are capital taxes. Unions may overcome this
problem using their private information allowing them to distinguish economic
profits. This offers a general theory of why unions may be desirable.
We are working on theoretical, empirical and legal questions surrounding this
argument.
OPINION ARTICLES
“Financial Guidance from FDA,” Boston Globe, December 3rd,
2008.
“Put the Bankers Back to Work,” Huffington Post, February 5th,
2009.
HONORS
Milton Fund research grant, Harvard University (2009)
J.
Wallace Ely ’32 Fund, Princeton University (2008)
Supplemental
Merit Fellowship, Princeton University Department of Economics (2007-2008)
Princeton
University Graduate School Fellowship (2007-2008)
Elected
Valedictorian by a vote of the Princeton faculty (2007)
Halbert White ’72 Prize to the most outstanding economics
major (2007)
Wolf
Balleisan Memorial Prize for best economics senior thesis (2007)
Birch
Family Prize, to the Finance Certificate student with the best grades in
finance classes (2007)
Awarded
Highest Honors (Summa Cum Laude) in economics (2007)
USA TODAY All-USA College Academic Team (2007)
George B. Wood Legacy Junior Prize for exceptional academic
achievement in the junior year at Princeton University (2006)
Josephine De Kármán Fellowship
(2006)
Elected
in the fall of senior year to Phi Beta Kappa with a dozen other students (2006)
Humane Studies
Fellowship (2006)
Merit Scholarship
from National Scholars Honor Society (2005)
Merit Award from the National Society of Collegiate
Scholars (2005)
Twice,
Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence to top 35 students in
each of the sophomore and junior classes at Princeton (2004, 2005)
Quin Morton ’36 Writing Seminar Essay Prize to the top 10
essays by freshmen at Princeton (2004)
Walter
E. Hope Prize and Spencer Trask Medal to best freshman debater at Princeton
(2004)
The
Daily Princetonian Arts Writing Award (2004)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Invited
guest lectures: Special lecture to masters 1 and 2 students at Toulouse School
of Economics and ECO321 Industrial Organization (Princeton, undergraduate,
Professor Swati Bhatt) on “Pass-Through, Double Marginalization and Two-Sided Markets”
and COS444 Electronic Auctions (Princeton, undergraduate, Professor Ken Steiglitz)
on “Frontiers of Behavioral Auction Theory” (2008).
Teaching
assistant for Professors Markus Brunnermeier and José Scheinkman in
Financial
Economics I (PHD asset pricing), Princeton University, Fall 2006. Average course
evaluation rating: 4.22/5.0.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Referee:
American
Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Review, Econometrica,
Economic Inquiry, Economics Letters, Journal of Finance, Journal of Industrial Economics, International
Journal of Industrial Organization, Journal
of Political Economy, National
Science Foundation, Network
and Spatial Economics, Quarterly
Journal of Economics, RAND
Journal of Economics, Review of Network Economics
Visitor, Centro de Investigación Económica,
Instituto Tecnológico
Autónomo de México (CIE-ITAM) (2009)
Visiting Scholar, Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA) in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2007, 2008)
Visiting
Advisor, Ministerio de la
Hacienda, Santiago de Chile (2008)
Visiting
Graduate, Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory at the University of Chicago
(2008)
Price Theory Scholar, Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory
at the University of Chicago (2007)
Russell Sage Foundation Summer Institute in Behavioral
Economics in Trento, Italy (2006)
Econometric
research assistant to Stanford economic history professor Stephen Haber
(2004)
INVITED SEMINARS AND PRESENTATIONS
“The Price Theory of Two-Sided Markets”: United States Department of
Justice (USDOJ) Antitrust Division, Princeton University, Institute d’Économie Industrielle, Paris-Jourdan Sciences Économiques (2006), University of Chicago , USDOJ Antitrust Division , Wilkie Farr & Gallagher, Google, 26o Colóquio Brasileiro de Matemática, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) (2007), Northwestern
University, Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad
de Chile (2008).
“A Simple Theory of Scientific Learning”: IMPA, University
of Chicago and Ricoh
Innovations (2007).
“Whose Rights?”: George Mason University (2008).
“Is Arbitrage Socially Beneficial?”: Princeton
University (2008).
“Pass-Through, Double Marginalization and Two-Sided Markets”: USDOJ
Antitrust Division (2006 initial notes only), Princeton University, IDEI, Stanford GSB and Ministerio de Hacienda de Chile (2008).
“Pass-Through as an Economic Tool”: University
of California, San Diego, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Banco Central de Chile, Northwestern University, The
University of Chicago, IMPA,
Pontifícia Universidade
Católica do Rio de Janeiro, FGV, LACEA (2008), University of California, Berkeley, Stanford
University, 7th International Industrial Organization Conference
(IIOC), Toulouse
School of Economics, Universitat
Pompeu Fabra, INSEAD and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2009).
“Monopolies in Two-Sided Markets”: Harvard
University, Northwestern University, Compass Lexecon,
University of Chicago, IMPA
and LAMES
(2008), University of California, Berkeley, Compass Lexecon and
IIOC (2009).
“Organization and Chaos: Two Sides of my Dismal Science”: Harvard
Society of Fellows (2008) and Princeton
Club of Northern California (2009).
“The Labor Economics of Mutualism”: 5th
Annual Harvard Plant Biology Symposium (2009).
“A Price Theory of Multi-Sided Platforms”: Harvard University, New York University,
IESE Business School, Barcelona
Graduate School of Economics, Télécom ParisTech Conference on the Economics of Information
and Communications Technology and CIE-ITAM (2009)
“Economic Technology for the Economics of Technology”: TSE (2009).
“Solving
the Holdout Problem”:
The
University of Chicago, University of California,
Santa Barbara(2009).
“Mutualists
Don’t Look Back in Anger”: The University
of Chicago (2009).
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Advisory Board
Member, Esopus Magazine
and Foundation
(2008-present)
Graduate
Fellow, Forbes
College (2007-2008)
Junior Fellow, James
Madison Program in American Institutions and Ideals (2004-2008)
Peer
Advisor, Forbes College (2006-2007)
Undergraduate
Fellow at Forbes College, Center for Human Values and Princeton Institute
for International and Regional Studies (2004-2007)
Founder
and President of Princeton Against Protectionism
(2004-2006)
Tutor
in mathematics, physics, and economics (2004-2006)
Weekly
film and food columnist for The Daily Princetonian (2003-2005)
Founder
and President of Latin
American Studies Student Organization (2003-2004)
Member,
Princeton Debate
Panel (2003)
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
American Economic
Association, Econometric
Society, European
Economics Assocation, Latin
American and Caribbean Economic Association, Western Economic Association International
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