Game Changer - the game theory podcast

In this episode, our guest Stefano DellaVigna shares his approach to answering research questions through various data sources, including lab experiments, natural experiments, and field experiments. We explore the significance of seeking out natural experiments and their value in enhancing our understanding of human behavior. Using examples such as the impact of violent movies on violence and changes in Fox News subscriptions, Stefano reveals surprising findings and their implications. We also discuss the availability of experimental data and the establishment of nudging units for research purposes. Stefano DellaVigna is the Daniel Koshland, Sr., Distinguished Professor of Economics, Professor of Business Administration at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-director of the Berkeley Initiative for Behavioral Economics and Finance. His research interests are, among others, in the area of behavioral economics, applied microeconomics and media economics. You can find his paper on the influence of movie violence on violent crime here and his paper on the "Fox News effect" here.

In this episode Tommaso Bondi shares his research on cultural markets with us. We take a deep dive into the insights he gained when studying online reviews and he explains to us why, counterintuitively, earning public recognition does not necessarily lead to higher ratings. A finding which, as we learn from Tommaso, is closely related to how well customer preferences and product match. Tommaso's result does not only have theoretical merit but also seems to be observable in practice. We then also discuss the impact of experts on reviews and finally take a short detour to strategies of brick-and-mortar bookstores. Tommaso Bondi is Assistant Professor of Marketing and the Demir Sabanci Faculty Fellow of Marketing and Management at Cornell Tech and the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. His research is mainly focused on economics of digitization, quantitative marketing, and behavioral and experimental economics. You can find his papers "Alone, Together: A Model of Social (Mis)Learning from Consumer Reviews" and "The Good, The Bad and The Picky: Reference Dependence and the Reversal of Product Ratings" here and here.

In today's episode, we explore one of the classics in Bargaining theory: The Rubinstein Bargaining Model. And we have found the perfect guest - who better to explain this bargaining model than its founder Ariel Rubinstein himself! Ariel not only shares how the idea of the model came to be, but he also comments on some results and critically discusses whether the Rubinstein Bargaining Model (and Game Theory in general) has predictive or normative power for real-life situations. Ariel Rubinstein is Professor of Economics at the School of Economics at Tel Aviv University and the Department of Economics at New York University. His research is focused on Economic Theory, in particular Decision Theory and Game Theory. You can download his books for free (also the book "Economic fables" mentioned in our episode) and check out his Atlas of Cafés on his website https://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/ . There, you also find his original paper introducing what came to be know the "Rubinstein Bargaining Model": "Perfect Equilibrium in a Bargaining Model"

Monetary incentives are a part of our daily lives, from work bonuses to fines for minor traffic violations. But can they lead us to make bad decisions? In this episode, our guest Sandro Ambühl presents an empirical study in which he investigates this very question. He explains what constitutes a bad decision in the economic/rational sense and how people's decisions are related to regret, information, and the size of the monetary incentive. Sandro Ambühl is Assistant Professor of Behavioural Economics of Financial Markets at the University of Zurich, where his research is focused on Behavioural Experimental Economics, Behavioural and Experimental Finance, Repugnant Transactions and Rational Inattention. You can find his paper "Can Incentives Cause Harm? Tests of Undue Inducement" here.

In this episode, we explore how time pressure and regret can influence our search behavior as customers in the world of online shopping. Our guest, Timm Opitz, sheds light on his research paper titled "Time Pressure and Regret in Sequential Search", which investigates the impact of urgency and regret on optimal search behavior by conducting experiments in a controlled environment. He also shares some strategies we can use to overcome the influence of urgency and regret in our shopping behaviour. Timm Opitz is economist currently pursuing his PhD at the Max-Planck-Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich, Germany, where he is part of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research group. As such, his research interests are Entrepreneurship, Behavioral Market Design and Developmental Psychology. You can find his paper on "Time Pressure and Regret in Sequential Search" here.

Join us in this episode as we explore the rise of AI technology and the complex decisions that policy makers are facing regarding the protection of privacy and fostering of innovation. Our guest Keith sheds light on how moderately loosening regulations in a competitive market environment may maximize consumer welfare. However, we also discuss how some countries, such as Russia, strongly deviate from this strategy, indicating that consumer welfare may not be their top priority. Keith Chan is Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where his research is centered on Microeconomics, Environmental Economics and Sustainable and Green Finance. You can find his paper on the tradeoff between regulations and innovation for AI here.

In this episode Felix Mylius shares his insights on personal referrals in labour markets. He explains to us why personal referrals are still relevant for job search today despite the predominant use of online platforms to find jobs and how all this is linked to Game Theory and matching markets. Together we dive into firms' incentives, implications for search platforms and discuss whether this is transferable to other matching markets, like the dating market. Felix Mylius is currently finishing his PhD in economics at the University of Cambridge. His research is mainly focused on applications of microeconomics within the field of matching markets.

In this episode we are diving into the topic of healthcare markets together with Simon Reif. He explains to us what makes the healthcare market so special, why its characteristics call for regulation and how systems differ substantially across countries. Focusing on Europe we discuss how, counterintuitively, setting a "global budget" for hospitals leads to poorer service and how generating the right incentives could change the healthcare market for the better in future. Simon Reif is a health economist heading the research group "Health Markets and Health Policy" at the Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim, Germany. His research is focused on market structures, reimbursement and digitalization of health care provision.

In this episode Piotr Dworczak explains to us how Market Design can contribute to alleviating inequality by increasing accuracy of policies targeting inequality. He does so using an example from the housing market which shows that more often than not it is very difficult to ensure that subsidies actually reach people in need since they cannot be easily identified. This is where Market Design comes into play: by generating targeted incentives which have a selection effect, it makes e.g. affordable housing policies more effective. Piotr Dworczak is associate Professor at the Department of Economics at Northwestern University and Researcher at the Group for Research in Applied Economics (GRAPE) in Warsaw, Poland. He does research on Mechanism and Information Design, specifically with more applied interests in inequality-aware Market Design.

In this episode Emir Kamenica introduces us to the research field of information design. He recaps the history of modelling information in economics from the 70s to today, and explains term "Bayesian Persuasion" (and if and how it differs from the term "information design"). He then illustrates how having full information e.g. as a navigation app user can lead to inefficient outcomes and what information design means in the context of mystery novels, gambling and entertainment in general. Emir Kamenica is Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and, together with his co-researchers, has founded the field of Bayesian persuasion. Beyond that his research is centered on different topics in microeconomics. During the interview, Emir mentions one of his papers on how information design can reduce congestion. You can find this paper here.