U.S. tech titans increasingly hire PhD economists to help solve business problems.

Monica McNeil

2019-03-19 12:35:00 Tue ET

U.S. tech titans increasingly hire PhD economists to help solve business problems. These key tech titans include Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Netflix, and Twitter (FAMGANT). Most PhD economists exhibit at least 2 critical skills that can contribute to effective business solutions. First, many economists implement effective empirical methods and quantitative tools to ferret out *causal relations* in business data. Second, PhD economists can understand the useful design of both *effective incentives and market mechanisms* for better business optimization. In practice, these PhD economists help demystify many empirical puzzles in the tech sector. For instance, some economists empirically find that Uber Express Pool may inadvertently draw in active users from some other Uber products without growing the full Uber user base. Also, several other economists show that eBay tends to syphon off people who would have come through organic search when the online auction website advertises on Google. Moreover, some recent economic research demonstrates that many African-American Airbnb users experience rampant racial discrimination.

If tech platforms involve matching users or businesses, market design economists can likely help guide these key business decisions. Modern examples of disruptive platform design include Amazon, Airbnb, Tinder, TripAdvisor, and so forth. If scale economies are critical for the business, several major mergers, acquisitions, and exclusive deals may dramatically alter the strategic industry structure and market environment. For instance, Apple and Alphabet are the dominant duo in the iOS-Android market for mobile devices; Microsoft remains a primary software market player with its Office Suite and Windows operating system; Intel and Qualcomm specialize and dominate in the tech-savvy market for microchips; Google acquires 90% of U.S. online search traffic; Facebook extracts healthy profits in social media advertisements; and Netflix retains competitive moats and niches in the lucrative business of high-speed original video content distribution.

If tech companies need to analyze large-scale user data to make better business decisions, econometricians apply logistic regressions, panel estimation methods, and time-series models to derive informative business insights into user behaviors, product reviews, and customer interests and preferences. Smart data analyzers include Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, eBay, PayPal, and IBM etc. In contrast to doctors, engineers, and lawyers who may focus on specific mechanical details and techniques, most economists focus on the bigger picture when they implement empirical methods to solve practical business problems. Overall, most economists can see both the trees and the forest in important business decisions when push comes to shove.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Several business founders and entrepreneurs take low risks with high potential rewards to buck the conventional wisdom.

Chanel Holden

2020-06-24 09:32:00 Wednesday ET

Several business founders and entrepreneurs take low risks with high potential rewards to buck the conventional wisdom.

Several business founders and entrepreneurs take low risks with high potential rewards to buck the conventional wisdom. Renee Martin and Don Martin (2010

+See More

Stock Synopsis: With a new Python program, we use, adapt, apply, and leverage each of the mainstream Gemini Gen AI models to conduct this comprehensive fundamental analysis of Palantir (U.S. stock symbol: $PLTR).

Olivia London

2025-10-04 13:37:00 Saturday ET

Stock Synopsis: With a new Python program, we use, adapt, apply, and leverage each of the mainstream Gemini Gen AI models to conduct this comprehensive fundamental analysis of Palantir (U.S. stock symbol: $PLTR).

Stock Synopsis: With a new Python program, we use, adapt, apply, and leverage each of the mainstream Gemini Gen AI models to conduct this comprehensive fund

+See More

Amazon and Google face more intense antitrust scrutiny.

Apple Boston

2019-06-21 13:33:00 Friday ET

Amazon and Google face more intense antitrust scrutiny.

Amazon and Google face more intense antitrust scrutiny. In recent times, Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission have reached an internal agreement

+See More

U.S. regulatory agencies may consider broader economic issues in their antitrust probe into Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.

Joseph Corr

2019-07-03 11:35:00 Wednesday ET

U.S. regulatory agencies may consider broader economic issues in their antitrust probe into Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.

U.S. regulatory agencies may consider broader economic issues in their antitrust probe into tech titans such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google etc. Hou

+See More

A congressional division between Democrats and Republicans can cause ripple effects on Trump economic reforms.

Becky Berkman

2018-11-29 11:33:00 Thursday ET

A congressional division between Democrats and Republicans can cause ripple effects on Trump economic reforms.

A congressional division between Democrats and Republicans can cause ripple effects on Trump economic reforms. As Democrats have successfully flipped the Ho

+See More

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz maintains that globalization only works for a few elite groups.

Becky Berkman

2019-08-09 18:35:00 Friday ET

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz maintains that globalization only works for a few elite groups.

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz maintains that globalization only works for a few elite groups; whereas, the government should now reassert itself in terms o

+See More