Nikhil Malik

I am an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Marshall School of Business, USC. Currently I am visiting the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University for the 2025-26 term in the Marketing and Business Technologies areas.

My research is focused on the economics of AI. I teach graduate-level courses on Digital Marketing with a focus on AI and Technology. I completed my PhD dissertation on the Economics of Machine Learning and Blockchain Technologies. Before academia, I developed financial technology and risk models for Goldman Sachs.

Areas of Expertise

Topics: Economics of AI, Algorithmic Pricing, and Web 3.0
Methods: Machine Learning, Econometrics and Game Theory
Markets: Housing Market, Creative Content and Decentralized Markets (Blockchains)

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) and Google Scholar Pages.

Academic Research

Work on Algorithmic Pricing and Housing Market Platforms

- Can Machine Learning Based Algorithmic Prices Amplify Product Mispricing?. with Manzoor E. R&R at Management Science. [pdf, video at MS, video at WoPA]
- Platform Design of Algorithmic Pricing Models with Fu R and Wei M. [ppt,pdf]
- How does algorithmic Trust affect pricing decisions? Evidence from the housing market with Troncoso I., Proserpio D. and Fu R. [ppt,pdf]

Work on AI Explainability, Bias and Fairness

- Regulating eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) May Harm Consumers. with Mohammadi B., Derdenger T. and Srinivasan K. Marketing Science. 2024.
- When does beauty pay? An ML based measurement of beauty bias. with Singh P.V. and Srinivasan K. Information Systems Research (ISR). 2023. More details...
- Unstructured Data, Econometric Models, and Estimation Bias . with Wei M. R&R at Management Science. [pdf, ppt]
- Deep Learning in Computer Vision: Methods, Interpretation, Causation and Fairness. with Singh P.V. Operations Research & Management Science in the Age of Analytics. INFORMS, 2019. 73-100. [video]

Work on Web 3.0, Decentralized Markets and Creative Content

Why Bitcoin will fail to scale? Economics of collusion on Blockchain. with Aseri M., Singh P.V and Srinivasan K. Management Science 68, no. 10 (2022): 7323-7349. More details...
Blockchain Technology in Creative Industry. with Wei M., Gil A. and Luo L. International Journal of Research in Marketing (IJRM) 2022, ISSN 0167-8116.
Designing Effective Music Excerpts . with Manzoor E. R&R at Marketing Science.
Privacy Regulation in Live-Streaming Content with Yuan Y., Wang W. and Srinivasan K.

Popular Press Coverage: CNN Business, Audacy/KMOX Radio, People Magazine, StudyFinds, Press Releases [1]

Is Zillow making the home-buying problem worse? The Boston Globe. Feb 4, 2025.

Work with PhD Students

Past Dissertation Committee for:

Poet Larsen (USC to Post-Doc at HBS in 2025)
Yanyan Li (USC to University of Houston in 2025)
Behnam Mohammadi, (CMU to UT Dallas in 2025)

Also actively working with: Yuan Yuan (4th year CMU), Jingwei Dai (3rd year CMU)

Career and Education

(Visiting) Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Carnegie Mellon University: 2025 - Present
Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern California: 2021 - Present (on LoA)
Vice President Strategist at Goldman Sachs: 2020 - 2021
PhD Candidate at Carnegie Mellon University: 2016 - 2020
Associate Strategist at Goldman Sachs: 2011 - 2016
Undergraduate at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi: 2007 - 2011

Awards and Fellowships

Nikhil.Malik@marshall.usc.edu

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhil-malik/