In recent years, economists have begun to apply the tools of industrial organization (IO) to an ever-growing set of industries. This conference will showcase how canonical IO concepts like supply, demand, imperfect competition, and strategic interactions can be applied to a broad set of general markets and economic questions, such as housing markets, school competition, environmental regulation, and health care.

This conference is by invitation only. Please contact bfi-events@uchicago.edu if you have any questions.

Agenda

Tuesday, September 16, 2025
9:15 am–9:40 am

Registration and Breakfast

6th Floor Lounge

9:40 am–9:45 am

Opening Remarks

Milena Almagro, University of Chicago

Jacob Conway, University of Chicago

Malika Korganbekova, University of Chicago

Eric Richert, University of Chicago

Political Economy Session

Michael Sinkinson, Northwestern University (Session Chair)

9:45 am–10:45 am

Market Power and Political Power: Is there a “Curse of Bigness”?

Tommaso Valletti, Imperial College

10:45 am–11:15 am

Break

11:15 am–12:15 pm

Trade Sanctions

Alexey Makarin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

12:15 pm–1:30 pm

Lunch

1st Floor Dining Room

Marketing Session

Guy Aridor, Northwestern University

1:30 pm–2:30 pm

Andrey Simonov, Columbia University

2:30 pm–3:00 pm

Break

3:00 pm–4:00 pm

Yufeng Huang, University of Rochester

4:00 pm–4:30 pm

Break

Environmental Session

Luming Chen, University of Michigan (Session Chair)

4:30 pm–5:30 pm

Optimal Second-best Menu Design: Evidence from Residential Electricity Plans

Nicholas Vreugdenhil, Arizona State University

6:30 pm

Conference Dinner

By invitation only

Wednesday, September 17, 2025
8:15 am–9:00 am

Breakfast

6th Floor Lounge

9:00 am–10:00 am

Keynote

Fiona Scott Morton, Yale University (Speaker)

Sam Goldberg, Stanford University (Session Chair)

10:00 am–10:30 am

Break

Health Session 1

Catherine Ishitani, Yale University (Session Chair)

10:30 am–11:30 am

Anatomy of Hospital Quality in Treating Covid-19: Variation and its Consequences

Gautam Gowrisankaran, Columbia University

11:30 am–12:45 pm

Lunch

1st Floor Dining Room

Health Session 2

Catherine Ishitani, Yale University (Session Chair)

12:45 pm–1:45 pm

Michael Dickstein, New York University

1:45 pm–2:15 pm

Break

2:15 pm–3:15 pm

Benjamin Vatter, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3:15 pm

Conference Concludes