I am a Senior Lecturer in economics at the University of Melbourne studying industrial organization and public economics. I am also an affiliate at the Centre for Market Design.
My research focuses on empirical assessments of market design. I use both structural models and reduced-form causal inference techniques to quantify how the design of pricing mechanisms (or the absence of such mechanisms) may distort markets and test policy implementations or market re-designs aimed at improving outcomes.
Contact:
Faculty of Business and Economics Building, Lvl 4
University of Melbourne, 3010 VIC Australia
Email: aaron[dot]barkley[at]unimelb[dot]edu[dot]au
Phone: +61 3 8344 0589
Research
Published and accepted papers:
Bidding Frictions in Ascending Auctions with Joachim Groeger and Robert A. Miller. Journal of Econometrics, 223.2 (2021): 376-400
Cost and Efficiency in Government Outsourcing: Evidence from the Dredging Industry American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 13.4 (2021): 514-547. [Accepted version] [Supplementary appendix]
Congestion and Consolidation: An Empirical Study of a Barge Shipping Merger with Kael Mcleod. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 93 (2022): (103725). [Accepted version]
The Price Effects of Calling Out Market Power: A Study of the COVID-19 Oil Price Shock with David P. Byrne and Xiaosong Wu. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 31.4(2022): 923-941.
The Human Cost of Collusion: Health Effects of a Mexican Insulin Cartel. Journal of the European Economic Association. 21.5(2023): 1865-1904.
Recipient of the 2021 Robert F. Lanzillotti Prize for best paper in antitrust economics at the International Industrial Organization Conference.
Working Papers:
Haggle or Hammer? Dual-Mechanism Housing Search (with David Genesove and James Hansen) Draft available upon request.
Work In Progress:
Barging In: Strategic Queueing in the US Inland Waterways Freight Market