ERC AI-COMP project

I am the PI of an ERC Advanced Grant on AI and Competition. Max Shafer, Vito Stefano Bramante, and Yann Delaprez are currently working with me with this project. More information will be available on a dedicated page soon.

Algorithms, AI and market outcomes

Artificial Intelligence, Recommender Systems and Competition new
with G Calzolari, V Denicolò, and S Pastorello, Jan 2025.
R&R Review of Economic Studies
[Full Text - SSRN]
AI and policy: what makes AI different? new
with G Calzolari (Full Text - Jan 2025)
Economic Policy
Experimental Evidence That Conversational Artificial Intelligence Can Steer Consumer Behavior Without Detection new
with T. Werner, I. Soraperra, D. C. Parkes, I. Rahwan (Full Text - ARXiv - Nov 2024)
The Algorithmic Advantage: How Reinforcement Learning Generates Rich Communication new
with C Possnig and J Tolvanen ([Full Text - ARXIV] - Jan 2026)
Q-learners Can Provably Collude in the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma new
with Q Bertrand, J Duque, G Gidel [Full Text - ARXIV]
ICML 2025
Algorithmic Content Selection and the Impact of User Disengagement
with Nika Haghtalab, Ellen Vitercik, Eric Zhao [Full Text - ARXIV]
Algorithmic collusion: genuine and spurious
with G Calzolari, V Denicolò and Sergio Pastorello, September 2023.
International Journal of Industrial Organization [editorial version]
Algorithmic collusion with imperfect monitoring
with G Calzolari, V Denicolò and Sergio Pastorello, December 2021.
International Journal of Industrial Organization [editorial version]
Protecting consumers from collusive prices due to AI
E Calvano, G Calzolari, V Denicolò, JE Harrington Jr, S Pastorello
Science 370 (6520), 1040-1042
Artificial Intelligence, Algorithmic Pricing and Collusion
with G Calzolari, V Denicolò and S Pastorello, October 2020. American Economic Review
[Editorial version (AEA website)] [Latest post-print] [Online Appendix] [(new!) CODE & Instructions]
Media Coverage: [Financial Times] [Wall Street Journal] [US National Public Radio] [Popular mechanics] [Le Monde] [MIT tech review] [VOXEU column] [Oxford Business law blog] [MachineByte UK] [Canadian Public Radio: listen!] [DAS Profil - Austria] [Scientific American - Italia] [MIT tech review PODCAST] [Risk.net magazine]
Algorithmic Pricing and Collusion: what implications for competition policy
with G Calzolari, V Denicolò and S Pastorello, August 2019,
Review of Industrial Organization [Paper]
Can we trust the algorithms that recommend products online? A theory of biased advice
with Bruno Jullien (Toulouse U), May 2018, [Paper in preparation]

White papers, commentaries, tutorials

(tutorial) Economics of Recommender Systems
Emilio Calvano, Giacomo Calzolari, Vincenzo Denicolo, Sergio Pastorello
RecSys '24: Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems [Full text - Open access]
Artificial intelligence recommendations: evidence, issues, and policy
Emilio Calvano, Giacomo Calzolari, Vincenzo Denicolò, Sergio Pastorello
Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Volume 40, Issue 4, Winter 2024, Pages 843–853,
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/grae048

Market power and competition in digital markets

Merger Policy in Digital Markets: An Ex-Post Assessment
w. E Argentesi, P Buccirossi, T Duso, A Marrazzo, S Nava, 2019. Journal of Competition Law & Economics [Paper]
Strategic differentiation by Business models: Free-to-Air and Pay-TV
with M Polo, 2020. Economic Journal [Paper] [Online Appendix]
Market Power, Competition and Innovation in digital markets: A survey
with Michele Polo, 2020. Information Economics and Policy [Preliminary version]
Incumbency advantage and its value
with J Cremer and G Biglaiser, 2019, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy [Preliminary version]
The Impact of Consumer Multi-Homing on Advertising Markets and Media Competition
with S. Athey and J. Gans, 2018, Management Science - [Paper] The Washington Post covered this paper! [Link]
Either or both competition: a "two-sided" theory of advertising with overlapping viewership
with A. Ambrus and M. Reisinger, 2016, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics [Paper]
Pricing Payment Cards
with Özlem Bedre; 2013. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, [Paper] [Online Appendix]
Issues in online advertising and competition policy: a two-sided market perspective
with Bruno Jullien, 2012. Recent advances in the analysis of competition policy and regulation. Elgar publishing. [WP version]

Dynamic Incentives

A Theory of Community Formation and Social Hierarchy
with Susan Athey (Stanford GSB) and Saumitra Jha (Stanford GSB), Fall 2021,
R&R Journal of the European Economic Association - WorkingPaper - SSRN