Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100104
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
Mechanism Design with Aftermarket Dynamics. This project aims to design optimal selling policies, allowing for aftermarket dynamics such as resale and inter-buyer competitions. The existence of an aftermarket greatly affects the optimal design of license auctions, procurement, franchising and the like. For instance, when market licenses are auctioned off, incumbent firms may compete fiercely for licenses they do not need simply to keep entrants out. Existing sales designs that overlook such bidd ....Mechanism Design with Aftermarket Dynamics. This project aims to design optimal selling policies, allowing for aftermarket dynamics such as resale and inter-buyer competitions. The existence of an aftermarket greatly affects the optimal design of license auctions, procurement, franchising and the like. For instance, when market licenses are auctioned off, incumbent firms may compete fiercely for licenses they do not need simply to keep entrants out. Existing sales designs that overlook such bidding incentives often underperform in practice. The project aims to examine informational policies that influence buyers’ activities to best suit the seller's objectives. It expects to help regulatory bodies to design more efficient license auctions, provide franchisors with more profitable strategies, and save taxpayers' money when procuring services.Read moreRead less
Decentralised assets trading, centralised clearing and systemic risk. This project aims to study the effect of regulating over-the-counter (OTC) financial markets on economic performance. The lack of transparency of OTC financial markets may have exacerbated the severity of the 2007-09 financial crisis. In response, regulators around the world decided to mandate centralised clearing of derivatives traded OTC, believing this would reduce system-wide risk. This project will study the regulatory ch ....Decentralised assets trading, centralised clearing and systemic risk. This project aims to study the effect of regulating over-the-counter (OTC) financial markets on economic performance. The lack of transparency of OTC financial markets may have exacerbated the severity of the 2007-09 financial crisis. In response, regulators around the world decided to mandate centralised clearing of derivatives traded OTC, believing this would reduce system-wide risk. This project will study the regulatory change’s effects on market participation, volumes of trade and prices, and the behavioural effect of shifting risk from market participants to clearinghouses. It expects to suggest remedial policies clearinghouses could implement to control market participants’ risk appetite. These can help enhance future productivity and reduce unemployment in Australia.Read moreRead less
Emissions trading and the design and operation of Australia's energy markets. Past research has applied the methods of experimental economics to focus on capacity markets, futures markets, and demand side response management options for electricity markets in the United States of America. This project will examine research priorities for Australia's energy markets. These include market impacts on investment decision-making, trade in Renewable Energy Certificates, and the consequences of carbon e ....Emissions trading and the design and operation of Australia's energy markets. Past research has applied the methods of experimental economics to focus on capacity markets, futures markets, and demand side response management options for electricity markets in the United States of America. This project will examine research priorities for Australia's energy markets. These include market impacts on investment decision-making, trade in Renewable Energy Certificates, and the consequences of carbon emissions trading for energy market outcomes. Australia's electricity markets are primarily financial markets and new policy developments present both risks and opportunities. By designing and testing markets, experiments will be used to test market performance and for unforeseen consequences of new market policies.Read moreRead less
An economic analysis of multi-period reform programs. This project aims to use a mechanism design approach to study multi-period reform programs and their use in the transition from status quo institutions. The project intends to shed light on the difficulties of introducing efficiency enhancing long-term policies. Expected outcomes include theoretical models that incorporate adjustment costs, common values, and complicated status quo institutions into models of economic reform from a mechanism ....An economic analysis of multi-period reform programs. This project aims to use a mechanism design approach to study multi-period reform programs and their use in the transition from status quo institutions. The project intends to shed light on the difficulties of introducing efficiency enhancing long-term policies. Expected outcomes include theoretical models that incorporate adjustment costs, common values, and complicated status quo institutions into models of economic reform from a mechanism design perspective as well as optimal dynamic reform policies in the presence of these frictions, focusing attention in the trade-off between static efficiency and dynamic welfare gains. Intended benefits include insights that are wildly applicable to the provision of public infrastructure and management of public resources.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100190
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$363,996.00
Summary
Auction design with behavioural bidders. This project aims to incorporate behavioural elements from psychology into the economic analysis of auctions. The project will address discrepancies between traditional economic analysis of auctions based on fully rational bidders, and evidence from psychology and behavioural economics which demonstrates systemic departures from rational decision-making. This will expand realism in economic analysis and contribute new insights for the design of relevant, ....Auction design with behavioural bidders. This project aims to incorporate behavioural elements from psychology into the economic analysis of auctions. The project will address discrepancies between traditional economic analysis of auctions based on fully rational bidders, and evidence from psychology and behavioural economics which demonstrates systemic departures from rational decision-making. This will expand realism in economic analysis and contribute new insights for the design of relevant, real-world auctions such as real-estate auctions or internet auctions. The project outcomes are expected to enhance the efficient allocation of resources, improve our understanding of how different rules affect buyers' well-being and help design fairer auctions.Read moreRead less
A cloud computing environment for managing foreign exchange risk. This project involves using parallel computing and machine learning to improve the real-time handling of a bank's foreign exchange risk. It will lead to improved techniques to manage exchange rate variations, enabling banks to better assess their risk and will ultimately lead to improved services for Australian companies.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100590
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$416,154.00
Summary
Optimal policy and mechanism design in education and labour markets. This project aims to investigate the optimal design and efficiency implications of education and labour market policies such as differential treatment in school assignment, university admissions, hiring and promotions within organisations. The project expects to develop novel theoretical models of public policy using techniques from information economics and mechanism design. The expected outcomes of this project include an enh ....Optimal policy and mechanism design in education and labour markets. This project aims to investigate the optimal design and efficiency implications of education and labour market policies such as differential treatment in school assignment, university admissions, hiring and promotions within organisations. The project expects to develop novel theoretical models of public policy using techniques from information economics and mechanism design. The expected outcomes of this project include an enhanced capacity to design policies and a new conceptual framework to assess their efficiency. This should enable policymakers and organisations to implement more efficient policies, and inform public debates on the merits of preferential treatment, gender equity policies and other education and labour market policies. Read moreRead less
Trustworthiness and reputation in markets: empirical and experimental studies. This project studies why consumers sometimes do not tell the truth when reporting their shopping experiences. This creates a problem for markets, since other consumers rely on that information. This research will guide firms, regulators and market platforms in how to elicit honest feedback from market participants, facilitating trust in the market.
Wicked defaults: how to overcome the dark side of choice architecture. This project aims to investigate how defaults and product complexity might be used to exploit consumers in environments like private insurance where consumers are prone to making systematic errors. Defaults are used to nudge individuals into socially beneficial actions such as increasing their retirement savings and joining organ donor lists. However, in the hands of firms, defaults can also be used to exploit consumers by en ....Wicked defaults: how to overcome the dark side of choice architecture. This project aims to investigate how defaults and product complexity might be used to exploit consumers in environments like private insurance where consumers are prone to making systematic errors. Defaults are used to nudge individuals into socially beneficial actions such as increasing their retirement savings and joining organ donor lists. However, in the hands of firms, defaults can also be used to exploit consumers by encouraging choices that help the firm but disadvantage consumers. The project intends to study experimentally whether exploitation can be reduced via competition and reputation building systems based on consumer feedback.Read moreRead less