Jean-Michel Benkert

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics.

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AI Acquihires: Competition Risks, Talent Battles and Economic Spillovers Webinar - 8 October @ 17:00 CEST

🗣️Jonathan Kanter @lugaricano.bsky.social @imarinescu.bsky.social @igorletina.bsky.social Hans Zenger

Moderator: @florianederer.bsky.social
Register: cepr.org/events/ai-ac...
#EconSky

A thread on "reverse acquihires" in the AI space.

Reverse acquihires are characterized by two things: 1) the buyer takes over the most important/talented employees and 2) the buyer pays a hefty sum to the target firm via a side deal.

They are becoming common in the AI space:

Meta Poached Apple’s Pang With Pay Package Over $200 Million Meta Platforms Inc. has made unusually high compensation offers to new members of its “superintelligence” team — including a more than $200 million package for a former Apple Inc. distinguished engine...

One thing I have not seen mentioned in the discussion about compensation packages for AI engineers is that firms are willing to pay not just for what value those employees bring to them, but also for the value that their competitors lose. In a sense, firms are partly trying to *hoard AI talent* 1/2

We’re happy to host the 1st European Economic Theory Conference in Bonn next fall! Submissions in all areas of economic theory are welcome.

Such a great initiative! I‘m looking forward to trialling this soon.

Strategic Attribute Learning A researcher allocates a budget of informative tests across multiple unknown attributes to influence a decision-maker. We derive the researcher's equilibrium learning strategy by solving an auxiliary ...

7/7 Have a look at the paper to find out more:
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2412.100...
Happy to hear you thoughts!

6/7 Further, we present extensions that address polarized media environments and time-inconsistent individual preferences.

5/7 Two key applications illustrate the model:
(1) Hierarchical organizations: our results suggest balancing diversity and uniformity in employees’ preferences as a function of hierarchical distance.
(2) Political discrimination: Opposed advisors can balance biased policymakers.

4/7 In the solution to the strategic problem, the research learns about attributes she cares about and where misalignment is small enough. If the researcher expects an excessive response to new information, she forgoes learning altogether.

3/7 We derive the researcher's equilibrium learning strategy by solving an auxiliary single-player problem. The attribute weights in this problem depend on how much the researcher and the decision-maker disagree.

2/7 We model a scenario where a researcher learns about multiple attributes of an uncertain environment to influence a decision-maker. The key question: how do misaligned preferences impact both the extent and the direction of learning?

1/7 In our new WP Strategic Attribute Learning, Ludmila Matysková, Egor Starkov, and I study how preference misalignment between a researcher and a decision-maker shapes learning and decision-making. [Link below]

Check out the thread by @igorletina.bsky.social on our new short paper on never-ending search for innovation.

The incentives at elite business schools are often discussed, though I know little about them. However, at less prestigious business schools, the pressure to "publish something" just to meet accreditation standards likely does not lead to high-quality research either.

Do we do threads🧵on #EconSky? I recently gave a talk on competition policy and startup acquisitions. Here are the main points:

1/ Since ~2001, acquisitions have overtaken IPOs as the primary "exit" for VC-backed startups. This shift impacts how competition plays out.

Come join us for an exciting event in Bern! Looking forward to receiving your applications. Let us know if you have any questions.

New ways to pay for research could boost scientific progress A new field hopes to apply science’s methods to science itself

The Economist has a very interesting article on the need to improve how we fund research. There is even a paragraph on innovation contests.

www.economist.com/science-and-...

We are hiring!🇨🇭

👉 4-year Postdoc position in Macroeconomics / Banking / Finance

👉 Dept. of Economics, University of Bern, group of Profs. Cyril Monnet and Dirk Niepelt

👉 Project on "Money and Debt in the 21st Century: Liquidity, Safety, Redistribution"

📈📉

econjobmarket.org/statuses?oid...