Biography

I am a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick and Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). I hold a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania (1991) and a PhD in Economics from Stanford University (1998). Prior to joining the faculty at Warwick, I held academic positions at Duke University and the University of Arizona. In 2007-2008, I was the Chief Economist at the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), the United States media and communications regulator.

I am an empirical economist specializing in the fields of industrial organization, econometrics, and media economics. Much of my work focuses on "evidence-based policymaking": using data on consumer and firm behaviour to understand the mechanisms generating market outcomes in product (esp. media) markets in order to best design public policies in those markets. I am also interested in empirical models of information, learning, and search, endogenous product characteristics and optimal product choice, and the economic effects of advertising.

Fields

• Industrial Organization
• Econometrics
• Media Economics

 

Curriculum Vitae

• PDF Format
  

 

Publications

• "Cable Regulation in the Internet Era", Chapter 4 in Rose, N., ed., "Economic Regulation and Its Reform: What Have We Learned?", forthcoming, University of Chicago Press.
• "Accommodating Endogenous Product Choices: A Progress Report," International Journal of Industrial Organization, v30 (2012), 315-320.
• "The Welfare Effects of Bundling in Multichannel Television Markets,'' American Economic Review, v102n2 (April 2012), 643-685.
  
  • For more information about this paper, including the online appendix and link to the estimation code, click here.
• " Economics at the FCC: 2007-2008," (with Evan Kwerel and Jonathan Levy), Review of Industrial Organization, v33n3 (November 2008), 187-210.
• " The Discriminatory Incentives to Bundle in the Cable Television Industry ," Quantitative Marketing and Economics, v6n1 (March 2008), 41-78.
• " Bidding Asymmetries in Multi-Unit Auctions: Implications of Bid Function Equilibria in the British Spot Market for Electricity ," (with Joseph Crespo and Helen Tauchen), International Journal of Industrial Organization , v25n6 (December 2007), 1233-1268.
• "Bundling, Product Choice, and Efficiency: Should Cable Television Networks be Offered A La Carte?", (with Joseph Cullen), Information Economics and Policy, v19n3-4 (October 2007), 379-404.
• " Monopoly Quality Degradation and Regulation in Cable Television ," (with Matthew Shum), Journal of Law and Economics, v50n1 (February 2007), 181-209.
• " Uncertainty and Learning in Pharmaceutical Demand ," (with Matthew Shum), Econometrica, 73n4 (July 2005), 1135-1174.
• " Recent Advances in Structural Econometric Modeling: Dynamics, Product Positioning, and Entry," (with J.-P. Dube, K. Sudhir, A. Ching, M. Draganska, J. Fox, W. Hartmann, G. Hitsch, B. Viard, M. Villas-Boas, and N. Vilcassim), Marketing Letters, v16n2 (July 2005).
• " The Impact of the 1992 Cable Act on Household Demand and Welfare," RAND Journal of Economics, v31n3 (Autumn 2000), 422-449.

 

Current Working Papers

• "The impact of "rollover" contracts on switching costs in the UK voice market: Evidence from disaggregate customer billing data,"(with Nicola Tosini and Keith Waehrer), June 2011.
  • Under revision for resubmission.

Work in Progress

• "The Welfare Effects of Monopoly Quality Choice: Evidence from Cable Television Markets,"(with Oleksandr Shcherbakov and Matthew Shum), September 2011.
  • Preliminary results. Extending econometric model in progress.
• "Orthogonal Instruments: Estimating Price Elasticities in the Presence of Endogenous Product Characteristics," (with Dan Ackerberg and Jin Hahn), November 2011.
  • New draft in progress. A set of recent slides is here.
• "A Virtual Stakes Approach to Measuring Competition in Product Markets," (with R. Michael Black, Shihua Lu, and Hal White), mimeo, May 2004.
  • Outlines theory and estimation. Working to test on observational data.

 

 

Reports

• "Television Station Ownership Structure and the Quantity and Quality of TV Programming," July 2007.
  • Research study on media ownership commissioned by the Federal Communications Commission.
• "The Empirical Consequences of Advertising Content in the Hungarian Mobile Phone Market,'' (with Jozsef Molnar), March 2008.
  • Preliminary results for a grant from the Hungarian Competition Authority.

 

Current Work In Progress (See here for more details).

• "Robust Instrumental Variables," (with Dan Ackerberg), March 2007.

   

• "An Empirical Analysis of Manufacturer-Retailer Interaction: What Determines Wholesale Prices?" (with Zsolt Mackasi), May 2006.

   

• "Storability, Competition, and Sales: Do Firms Cut Prices to Steal Demand from Rivals or Themselves?,'' (with James J. Anton), April 2005.

   

• "A Dynamic Model of Quality Competition in Subscription Television Markets,'' (with Alex Shcherbakov), March 2007.

   

• "The Impact of Ratings and Word-of-Mouth on DVD Rentals: An Analysis of the Netflix Data," (with Ivan Maryanchyk), February 2007.