Doctoral Candidate Studies Economic ‘Dynamic Game Theory’

When you want to buy a new cell phone or eat out, how do you decide which brand to purchase or which restaurant to dine in? According to Daniel Hauser, a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Department of Economics, it has to do with motivation on the part of the business and perception on the part of the consumer. An organization must decide whether to promote strong products or defend against attacks on weak ones. The purchaser then uses that information, and data from others who have made similar decisions first, to draw a conclusion.

Parsing the business side of this equation, Hauser studies what are aptly called “reputation games,” part of the larger principle known as “dynamic game theory,” which acts as the basis for his research.

“A game [in economic terms] is just a strategic interaction between two or more people. A dynamic game is an interaction that happens multiple times,” he says. “I think about how a firm’s ability to control information can impact its ability to build a reputation.”

He’s working to understand companies’ motivation to go one direction or another, says Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, professor and graduate studies director in the Department of Economics.

“In a world where it’s easy to suppress bad information about a product, you’re not going to invest a lot in quality. Think about General Motors in the 1960s. There was no internet, there was no cable TV. There were just newspapers,” says Fernández-Villaverde. “Today, with the internet, you have a strong incentive to produce a good product because it’s difficult to hide” a bad one.

Click here to read the full article.

Arts & Sciences News

Hanming Fang Named Inaugural Norman C. Grosman Professor of Economics

An applied microeconomist who integrates rigorous modeling with data analysis, Fang’s research within the field of public economics focuses on health insurance and healthcare markets.

View Article >
Xi Song Named Inaugural Schiffman Family Presidential Associate Professor of Sociology

Song’s research interests include social mobility, occupations, Asian Americans, population studies, and quantitative methodology.

View Article >
Julie Nelson Davis Named Paul F. Miller, Jr. and E. Warren Shafer Miller Professor of History of Art

Davis specializes in the arts and material cultures of 18th- and 19th-century Japan, with a focus on prints, paintings, and illustrated books.

View Article >
Justin Khoury Named Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Khoury’s research interests lie at the intersection of particle physics and cosmology.

View Article >
University of Pennsylvania, Neubauer Family Foundation, and Philadelphia Police Department Partner to Support Police Leadership Education

The first-of-its-kind graduate degree in the U.S. for police leaders launches this fall at the School of Arts & Sciences.

View Article >
Professor of Biology Philip Rea Wins Neal Award for Scientific Journalism

Rea won for the award for Best Technical/Scientific Content for his article “Gliflozins for Diabetes: From Bark to Bench to Bedside,” published in American Scientist.

View Article >