Research

Non-technical Slide Overview

Explanation of the Audio

 

 

Published articles

 

Whose Rights? A Critique of Individual Agency as the Basis of Rights,” Politics, Philosophy and Economics, 2009, 8(2), 139-171. (working draft) (published version) (working draft doc) (presentation slides)

 

If you think groups should not have rights because they are not agents, then you shouldn’t believe in individual rights either.

 

“Monopoly, Ramsey and Lindahl in Rochet and Tirole (2003),” Economics Letters, 2009, 103(2), 99-100. (working draft) (published version) (working draft tex)

 

The relationship between social and private pricing in the Rochet and Tirole (2003) model.

 

 

Forthcoming articles

 

“A Price Theory of Multi-Sided Platforms” in the American Economic Review. (draft pdf) (tex source) (appendix) (appendix tex source) (theoretical slides) (policy-oriented slides) (audio)

 

A general theory of monopoly pricing by multi-sided platforms, emphasizing the importance of the source of user heterogeneity, with applications to regulation, measurement of market power and merger analysis.

  

 

Articles under review

  

The Price Theory of Two-Sided Markets, Harvard University.  First version: December 2006, revised and submitted March 2009. (pdf) (tex source)

 

Pass-through provides a simple analysis of horizontal and vertical mergers in two-sided markets, overturning conventional wisdom.

 

 

Active working papers

   

“Simon Kuznets: Economist of the Russian Jewish Diaspora,” Princeton University, May 2007.  (pdf)  (tex source)

 

Much of Simon Kuznets’s economic thinking was closely tied to his Russian Jewish heritage.

  

“Psychic Income, Taxes and the Allocation of Talent,” Princeton University, December 2007. (pdf) (tex source)

 

Low taxes encourage smart students to go into lucrative, socially unproductive professions, like law and finance.

  

“Double Marginalization in Two-Sided Markets,” Harvard University and TSE, July 2008.

(pdf) (tex source)

 Vertical mergers are still beneficial in two-sided markets.

 

“Pass-Through as an Economic Tool” with Michal Fabinger, Harvard University. First version: July 2008, submitted April 2009.

 

The pass-through rate simplifies, unifies, generalizes and extends many areas of industrial organization models.

 

·        Paper: (pdf) (tex source)

·        Appendices: (monopoly appendix) (tex source) (GCS appendix) (tex source) (multiproduct appendix) (tex source) (CoPaDS appendix) (tex source) (taxonomy appendix) (tex source) (Apt demand appendix) (tex source)

·        Software, joint with Yali Miao: (Apt demand toolkit lite) (Apt demand toolkit full)

·        Slides: (theory slides) (applied slides) (short conference slides)

 

 

Older working papers

 

“Biasing Auctions,” Princeton University, April 2006. (pdf) (tex source) (teaching slides)

 

Different explanations of equilibrium winner’s curse have different implications for auction design and are testable.

 

“Overconfidence in Neural Networks,” Princeton University, May 2006. (request a copy)

 

Overconfidence arises naturally in a classical neural network model.

 

“Universal Speculation,” Princeton University, May 2006. (request a copy)

 

The “Universal Portfolios” algorithm of Cover (1991) conflicts would not be used by a Bayesian investor.

 

“A Simple Theory of Scientific Learning,” Princeton University, September 2007.  (pdf) (tex source) (short summary) (presentation slides)

 

A model for testing theories with precise predictions against theories with vague predictions.

 

“Is Arbitrage Socially Beneficial?” Princeton University, October 2007. (pdf) (tex source) (presentation slides)

 

Arbitrage and financial innovation are harmful when arbitrage opportunities are created by irrational investors.

  

 

Work in progress with results

 

 “Solving the Holdout Problem” with Scott Duke Kominers, Harvard University (request a copy) (slides)

Cournot points the way to an efficient solution of the holdout problem approximately preserving property rights.

 

“Mutualists Don’t Look back in Anger” with Megan Frederickson, Doug W. Yu and Naomi Pierce (request a copy) (slides)

A general, economics-based methodology for testing theories of mutualism supports Partner Fidelity Feedback over Host Sanctions.

 

“Creative Genius and the Free Enterprise System” with Jean Tirole (request notes)

We use mechanism design to show Friedman was right that the free enterprise system is best if and only if there are rare, materialistic creative geniuses.

 

 “A Practical Test for D-Stability” with Yali Miao (request notes)

A fast, simple algorithm for testing the D-Stability of large matrices.

 

“Slutsky meets Marschak: First-Order Identification of Multiproduct Monopoly,” Harvard University (request notes)

The econometric identification approach corresponding to Chetty’s “sufficient statistics approach”, solved for multiproduct monopolists.

 

“Imperfect Platform Competition: A General Framework” with Alex White (request notes)

Insulated equilibrium (Weyl 2009) eliminates much of the equilibrium multiplicity in platform competition, giving a simple general framework for applied and theoretical analysis.

 

 “The Correspondence Principle and the Law of Demand” (request notes)

Weak, intuitive stability conditions alone imply the law of demand (when applied locally) and strong uniqueness (when applied globally).

 

“Communication and Innovation” with Jean Tirole, Harvard University and TSE. (request notes)

Downstream patents may discourage communication of upstream research ideas.

 

 

Popular/opinion pieces

 

“Financial Guidance from FDA,” Boston Globe, December 3rd, 2008. (published version)

 

“Put the Bankers Back to Work,” Huffington Post, February 5th, 2008. (link)

 

 

 

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