Research Statement 

We have made much economic progress over the last century, becoming highly productive at work and improving our lives with many amazing technologies. Yet even in the most advanced economies, rare are the people who feel they have enough time and money to spend as they like. Tight family budgets and the pressure to work long hours afflict even the well-educated and the well-employed. Could it be that competition which drives our progress also prevents us from enjoying its fruits?  

Within our economies, there are many "arenas" in which the gains from progress are partially dissipated through competition. Such arenas include families bidding for housing in certain neighborhoods, students vying for entrance into certain schools, individuals seeking intimate partners with certain physical and financial advantages, and firms bidding up advertising rates and retail space rents in the battle for consumer attention. What makes such arenas problematic is that, unlike the rest of the economy, here technology and markets have so far failed to overcome scarcity.  Are we really stuck  with perpetually-scarce goods that will always require heavy sacrifices of money, time, and stress?  Or can we discover new institutions and technologies that would widen or perhaps even eliminate these bottlenecks?

I seek to understand the underlying forces that give rise to desirable goods which technology and markets cannot make plentiful and affordable.  I want to identify economic, social, institutional, and psychological factors that intensify or dampen the competition for such goods.  I hope to raise awareness of where, how, and why we dissipate gains from economic progress, and encourage work on potential technological and institutional solutions.