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Visiting Scholar: Gautam Gowrisankaran

Thursday, March 16
11:00 AM - 11:50 AM
TNRB W240
Bio

Dr. Gautam Gowrisankaran is a professor of economics at Columbia University, research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), research fellow of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Professeur afilié at HEC Montréal, and serves on the U.S. Congressional Budget Office Health Advisory Panel. In the past, he has served on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the American Economic Review and the RAND Journal of Economics. In addition, Professor Gowrisankaran has written analyses for a legal audience, including in the Antitrust Law Journal. He has been honored with best paper awards and recognized by Who’s Who Legal as a leading competition economist.

In his research, Dr. Gowrisankaran conducts both theoretical and empirical studies of topics related to industrial organization and competition. He has particular expertise in industries which are highly regulated and exhibit rapid technological change, such as healthcare and energy, as well as markets in which prices are negotiated. His research has been published in leading economics journals, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, and the Journal of Political Economy.

Global Competition Review recognized Dr. Gowrisankaran in its inaugural list of the world’s most important antitrust academics. He was also honored in Lexology’s 2022 Client Choice list.

Dr. Gowrisankaran received his bachelor's degree in economics from Swarthmore College, and earned his masters and doctorate degrees in economics at Yale University. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, Professor Gowrisankaran was a tenured professor of economics and the Peter and Nancy Salter Chair in Healthcare Management at the University of Arizona. He has held visiting academic appointments at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, Yale University, and Harvard University, among others.

Student Lecture, 16 March 2023

The Future Matters: The Importance of Modeling Dynamics in Firm Behavior and Policy Making
Every day, individuals and firms make decisions that change the choices they can make in the future. These decisions are “dynamic” in that in order to understand them, we must understand their implications for the future. Modeling dynamics helps us evaluate the costs and benefits of our regulatory system. It can help us design better health insurance and help us understand how to mitigate climate change without sacrificing economic well-being.

Faculty Seminar, 17 March 2023

Policy Uncertainty in the Market for Coal Electricity: The Case of Air Toxics Standards
Uncertainty over government policy affects important and irreversible decisions, including firm technology adoption, entry, and exit. This paper considers the effect of changes in the timing of uncertainty resolution surrounding the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS). We estimate a dynamic oligopoly model of technology adoption and exit for coal-fired electricity generators that recovers generators’ beliefs regarding future MATS enforcement. Generators subject to MATS experienced substantial policy uncertainty, with a perceived enforcement probability as low as 43%. Removing policy uncertainty increases expected discounted generator profits by $0.930 billion, but increases pollution by $0.809 to $2.206 billion.