Mallika W
- Research Program Mentor
MA at Columbia University
Expertise
Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Real Analysis
Bio
I completed a BA in Economics and Philosophy at the University of Oxford, and an MA in Economics at Columbia University. I'm writing the solution manual for a game theory textbook, and I have experience with research in microfinance, social impact, income distribution modelling, cryptocurrencies, campaign finance and more. My current research interests include intertemporal choice problems, Bayesian signalling games, antitrust legislation models, and social welfare indicator development. I'm fascinated by people's decision-making processes, business's strategic interactions and how to make better systems from a policy perspective!Project ideas
Applications of game theory in industrial organization
In this project, you would examine product pricing history in an industry dominated by a few companies and analyze how companies treat their competition strategically, model the levels of rationality of firms and consumers, examine how well price-setting, quantity-setting and leader-follower models represent business decisions, and determine the impact of competition policy on markets and consumer welfare. You can take this project in either an empirical or theoretical direction based on your interest.
Social welfare/quality of life metrics
In this project you will analyze various different measures of social welfare, happiness, and living standards and make a case for what features you think should be included in a general wellbeing indicator. You will learn about data collection and methodology issues, GDP distortions, how education, healthcare and income inequality can be incorporated into wellbeing, and how different countries/other geographical areas stack up on different quality-of-life metrics.
Behavioural economics: effects of nudges
Using either data you collect via an experiment or data found from other sources, you can test how people make different spending decisions based on small changes such as language used in advertisements/informational brochures, design elements choices, curated interactions with peers, updated information on risk, or other features you come up with! In this project you will learn data collection and analysis techniques and explore what subtly influences peoples' choices sometimes even subconsciously. You will read about bounded rationality, information distortions, and biases that affect people's perceived options.