Industrial Organization Initiative

Research Initiative

Investigating how firms, industries, and markets operate and interact

Faculty Directors: Ali Hortaçsu and Gunter J. Hitsch

Description

Industrial Organization is a large, responsive, and policy-relevant field of economics. Always active both theoretically and, especially during the past couple of decades, empirically, the field’s methods and practitioners have considerable influence on antitrust and regulation policy, and data-intensive managerial practices in many industries. The field also has substantial influence and growing overlaps with other fields of economics, including development, macro, and corporate finance.

Associated Scholars

UChicago Scholar

Milena Almagro

Assistant Professor of Economics, Liew Family Junior Faculty Fellow, George G. Rinder Faculty Fellow, Chicago Booth

UChicago Scholar

Eric Budish

Paul G. McDermott Professor of Economics and Entrepreneurship and Centel Foundation/Robert P. Reuss Faculty Scholar, Booth School of Business

Thomas Covert

Assistant Professor of Economics, Booth School of Business

UChicago Scholar

Jean-Pierre Dubé

James M. Kilts Distinguished Service Professor of Marketing and Charles E. Merrill Faculty Scholar, Booth School of Business

Daniel Fox

B.S. in Economics and Mathematics from Brigham Young University, Faculty Supervisor: Greg Kaplan

UChicago Scholar

Austan Goolsbee

Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics, Booth School of Business

UChicago Scholar

Gunter J. Hitsch

Kilts Family Professor of Marketing, Chicago Booth, Co-Director of BFI Industrial Organization Initiative

UChicago Scholar

Ali Hortaçsu

Ralph and Mary Otis Isham Professor of Economics, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics; Co-Director of BFI Industrial Organization Initiative

UChicago Scholar

Ryan Kellogg

Professor and Deputy Dean for Academic Programs, Harris Public Policy

UChicago Scholar

Sanjog Misra

Charles H. Kellstadt Distinguished Service Professor of Marketing and Applied AI, Chicago Booth

UChicago Scholar

Brad Shapiro

Professor of Marketing, Booth School of Business

UChicago Scholar

Avner Strulov-Shlain

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Booth School of Business

UChicago Scholar

Chad Syverson

George C. Tiao Distinguished Service Professor, Booth School of Business, Deputy Director, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics

UChicago Scholar

Thomas Wollmann

Associate Professor of Economics, Booth School of Business

Associated Research

BFI Working Paper·Oct 21, 2025

Who Pays for Tariffs Along the Supply Chain? Evidence from European Wine Tariffs

Aaron B. Flaaen, Ali Hortaçsu, Felix Tintelnot, Nicolás Urdaneta, and Daniel Xu

Topics: Fiscal Studies, Industrial Organization

BFI Working Paper·Sep 23, 2025

Why Is Manufacturing Productivity Growth So Low?

Enghin Atalay, Ali Hortaçsu, Nicole Kimmel, and Chad Syverson

Topics: Industrial Organization

BFI Working Paper·Sep 18, 2025

Missing Markets for Innovation: Evidence from New Uses of Existing Drugs

Eric Budish, Maya M. Durvasula, Benjamin N. Roin, and Heidi L. Williams

Topics: Industrial Organization

Associated Past Events

Academic Conferences·Oct 3, 2025, 9:00 AM·University of Chicago | David Rubenstein Forum | Room 504 1201 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637

2025 IOG Fall Conference

by Marianne Bertrand, Oeindrila Dube, Roger Myerson, Torsten Persson, and Francesco Trebbi

Academic Conferences·Sep 16, 2025, 9:00 AM·University of Chicago | David Rubenstein Forum | Room 601 1201 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637

2025 IO+ Conference

by Milena Almagro, Jacob Conway, Malika Korganbekova, and Eric Richert

Event·Sep 21, 2023, 12:00 AM·University of Chicago | David Rubenstein Forum Room 601 1201 E 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637

IO+ Conference

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Associated Insights

Research Briefs·Apr 25, 2024

Location Sorting and Endogenous Amenities: Evidence from Amsterdam

Milena Almagro and Tomás Domínguez-Iino

Different demographic groups tend to prefer different types of amenities, and businesses respond by expanding amenities in neighborhoods with greater demand. This pattern reinforces residential sorting, with ambiguous effects on inequality.

Topics: Industrial Organization

Research Briefs·Apr 3, 2024

Optimal Urban Transportation Policy: Evidence from Chicago

Milena Almagro, Felipe Barbieri, Juan Camilo Castillo, Nathaniel Hickok, and Tobias Salz

In Chicago, welfare would be increased by charging almost nothing for public transit, increasing the frequency of trains, and lowering the frequency of buses. Road pricing reduces environmental externalities, but only benefits travelers if the revenues are used for transit...

Topics: Industrial Organization

Research Briefs·Jun 8, 2023

Micro- and Macroeconomic Impacts of a Place-Based Industrial Policy

Enghin Atalay, Ali Hortaçsu, Chad Syverson, and Mehmet Fatih Ulu

Turkey’s Law 2012/3305 boosted economic activity among businesses in eligible industries/provinces and led to positive spillovers to the suppliers and customers of subsidized firms. In the long run, the policy reduced income inequality between regions only moderately, due to migration...

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