Alumni of the Social Science Ph.D. Program
Caltech conferred its first Ph.D. in Social Science in 1978. The following is a list of all 88 of those who have received their Ph.D. or who have completed all the requirements and will receive their degree next June. Degrees are listed by the year granted, not the year completed. As all degrees are officially granted in June, the degree requirements may actually have been completed the previous year. An alphabetical list is available here.
Entries include links to contact information, dissertation title, initial appointment, current position if known, and significant honors. There may be inaccuracies in job titles and we may not be fully up to date.
Any errors or additional information should be reported to the Graduate Secretary.
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| 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | |||||||
| 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 |
| 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 |
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |||
1978
- Naim Al-Adhadh
- Essays in Economic and Political Choice
First position: Ministry of Planning, Government of Iraq. - Steven Matthews
- Directional and Static Equilibrium in Social Decision Processes
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign.
Current position: Professor of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
Fellow of the Econometric Society. - Barry Weingast
- A Representative Legislature and Regulatory Agency Capture
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis.
Current position: Chair and Professor of Political Science, Stanford University. Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
1979
- Brian Binger
- Essays in Forward Markets and Uranium Industry
First position: Research Associate, Committee on Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.
Current position: Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of Colorado, Boulder. - Linda Cohen
- Essays on Safety regulation in the Atomic Energy Commission
First position: Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Current position: Professor of Economics, University of California, Irvine. - Elizabeth Hoffman
- Essays in Optimal Resource Allocation under Uncertainty with Capacity
Constraints
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Northwestern University.
Current position: President, University of Colorado system. - Tom Lee
- Microeconomic Foundations of Research and Development
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego.
Current position: unknown. - Matthew Spitzer
- Axiomatic Analysis of Legal/Inst. Issues
First position: Assistant Professor of Law, School of Law, Northwestern University.
Current position: Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Southern California, University of Southern California.
1980
- Randall Calvert
- On the Role of Imperfect Information in Electoral Politics
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis.
Current position: Professor of Political Science, Washington University. - Lee Sparling
- Regulatory Distortions in Transportation and Telecommunications
First position: U.S. Department of Justice.
Current position: State of Oregon Public Utilities Commission.
1981
- Robert Hahn
- An Assessment of the Viability of Marketable Permits
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, SUPA, Carnegie-Mellon University.
Current position: Director, Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution. - R. Mark Isaac
- Essays on the Role of Information in Natural Resource Exploration and
Development
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Arizona.
Current position: Chairman and Professor of Economics, University of Arizona. - Thomas Palfrey
- Theoretical and Institutional Perspectives on Bidding Processes
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, GSIA, Carnegie-Mellon University.
Current position: Professor of Economics and
Political Science, California Institute of Technology, Fellow of the Econometrics Society. - William Rogerson
- Legal Remedies and Reputation as Solutions to Moral Hazard in
Contracting
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Stanford University.
Current position: Professor of Economics, Northwestern University.
1982
- Joel Balbien
- Essays in the Econ of Sponsored Research
First position: Strategic Planning Analyst, Unocal Corporation.
Current position: Managing Member, Smart Technology Ventures.
1983
- Gary Cox
- Party and Constituency in Victorian Britain
First position: Assistant Professor of Government, University of Texas, Austin.
Current position: Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego. Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. - Mathew McCubbins
- Rational Individual Behavior and Collective Irrationality: the
Legislative Choice of Regulatory Form
First position: Assistant Professor of Government, University of Texas, Austin.
Current position: Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego. - Venkatraman Sadanand
- Imperfect Information and Oligopoly with Endogenous Market
Power
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of British Columbia.
Current position: Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of Guelph.
1984
- Kenneth McCue
- The Structure of Individuial Decisions in American Elections: The
Influence of Relevant Alternatives
First position: Research Scientist, Private political consulting.
Current position: Research Scientist, Environmental Quality Lab, Caltech. - Asha Sadanand
- Three Essays on Law and Economics
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of British Columbia.
Current position: Professor of Economics, University of Guelph. - Stephen Selinger
- Three Essays in Applied and Normative Economics
First position: Private real estate consulting.
Current position: unknown.
1985
- Rodney Fort
- Theory and Practice in the Analysis of Futures Price
Distributions
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Washington State University.
Current position: Professor of Economics, Washington State University. - James Gerard
- Three Essays on Markets with Imperfect Information
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Rutgers University.
Current position: unknown. - James Snyder
- Political and Market Equilibria with Income Taxes
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Chicago.
Current position: Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1986
- Jeffrey Banks
- Signaling Games: Theory and Applications
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Rochester.
Current position: Professor, California Institute of Technology. - Paul Bjorn
- Games in Econometrics With Application to Labor Economics
First position: AT&T.
Current position: Surgeon, Clevelend Clinic. - Da-Hsiang Lien
- Essays on Speculation and Future Markets
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Kansas.
Current position: Professor of Economics, University of Texas, San Antonio.
1987
- José Campos
- The Political Economy of Price Supports
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Current position: Economist, Policy Research Department, The World Bank. - Jack Williamson
- Financial Equilibrium, Voting Procedures, & Coalition Structures in
Allocational Mechanisms
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, McGill University.
Current position: Charles River Associates.
1988
- Farid Gasmi
- Econometrics of Duopolistic Games in Prices and Advertising: The Case
of the U.S. Soft Drink Industry
First position: Member of Technical Staff (Researcher), Bell Communications Research.
Current position: Professor of Economics, Universite des Sciences Sociales de Toulouse. - Wendy Hansen
- Regulatory Theory and its Application to Trade Policy: A Study of ITC
Decision-Making
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, State University of New York, Stony Brook.
Current position: Associate Professor of Political Science, University of New Mexico. - Jean-Laurent Rosenthal
- The Fruits of Revolution: Property Rights, Litigation and French
Agriculture 1700-1860
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles.
Current position: Professor of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles.
1989
- Patrick Legros
- Efficiency and Stability in Partnerships
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Cornell University.
Current position: Professor of Economics, Universite Libre de Bruxelles. - Jonathan Nagler
- An Examination of Strategic Opportunities Provided by the Conference
Committee Procedure in the U.S. Congress
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University.
Current position: Associate Professor of Political Science, New York University. - William Pegram
- The Federal Photovoltaic Commercialization Program
First position: Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Current position: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Northern Virginia Community College.
1990
- Kemal Güler
- Pre-auction Investment and Equivalence of Auctions
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Houston.
Current position: Techical Staff Member, Hewlett Packard Laboratories. - Guofu Tan
- Optimal Procurement & Contracting with Research and Development
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of British Columbia.
Current position: Associate Professor of Economics, University of British Columbia.
1991
- Richard Boylan
- Essays On the Analysis of Repeated Games Through Evolution and
Learning
First position: Assistant Professor of Managerial Economics, Washington University in St. Louis.
Current position: Associate Professor of Managerial Economics, Washington University. - Shawn Kantor
- Property Rights and the Dynamics of Institutional Change: The Closing
of the Georgia Open Range, 1870-1900
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Arizona.
Current position: Professor of Economics, University of Arizona. - Arthur Lupia
- The Effect of Information on Political Strategies and Outcomes in
Direct Democracy
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, San Diego.
Current position: Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan. - Mark Olson
- An Examination of the Assignment Problem: Theory and
Experiments
First position: Visiting Assistant Professor/Research Fellow for the Economic Science Lab, University of Arizona.
Current position: Research Scholar, Economic Science Laboratory, University of Arizona.
1993
- Robert Cull
- A Comparative Study of Capital Market Failure and Institutional
Innovation
First position: Economist/Telecommunications Policy Analyst, U.S. Department of Commerce (NTIA/OPAD). - Peng Lian
- Fiscal Policies, Optimal Growth, and Political Elections Under
Different Economic Systems
First position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Positive Political Economy, Harvard University.
Current position: Director, Statistical Research and Analysis, Numetrics Management Systems. - Charles Noussair
- A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of Auctions in Multi-Unit
Demand Environments
First position: Assistant Professor of Mathematical Economics, Erasmus University.
Current position: Associate Professor of Economics, Purdue University. - Charles Polk
- The Organization of Production: Moral Hazard and R&D
First position: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.
Current position: President, Net Exchange. - Jeffrey Prisbrey
- Cooperation in Reciprocity Games & In The Voluntary Contributions
Mechanism
First position: Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Current position: Economist, Department of Justice. - Langche Zeng
- Individual Choice in Political Economy
First position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Economy, GSIA, Carnegie-Mellon University.
Current position: Associate Professor of Political Science, George Washington University.
1994
- Kay-yut Chen
- The Strategic Behavior of Rational Novices
First position: Research Intern, Hewlett Packard Laboratories.
Current position: Project Scientist, Hewlett Packard Laboratories. - David Schmidt
- Equilibrium in Dynamic Economic Models
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Indiana University - Bloomington.
Current position: Economist, Bureau of Econ., Federal Trade Commission. - Kristin Szakaly-Moore
- The Political Economy of State Department: An Analysis of
Constitutional Limitations (1961-1990)
First position: Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles.
Current position: Director of Policy Research, California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission.
1995
- Paul Brewer
- Allocation & Computation In Rail Networks: A Binary Conflict Ascending
Price Mechanism (BICAP) For the Decentralized Allocation of the Right To Use
Railroad Tracks
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Georgia State University.
Current position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. - Yan Chen
- A Theoretical Study of Political Institutions & Economic
Policies
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Michigan. - John Duggan
- Bayesian Implementation
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Queen's University.
Current position: Associate Professor of Political Science and Economics, University of Rochester. - Mark Fey
- Three Aspects of Multicandidate Competition in Plurality Rule
Elections
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Princeton University.
Current position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Rochester. - Katerina Sherstyuk
- The Foundation of Teams Under Incomplete Information
First position: Lecturer in Economics, University of Melbourne.
Current position: Associate Professor of Economics, University of Hawaii, Manoa. - Olga Shvetsova
- The Design of Electoral Institutions
First position: Visiting Instructor in Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis.
Current position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis. - Michael Udell
- Essays in Applied Economics with Application to Tax Evasion and the
Political Business Cycle
First position: Economist, Joint Committee on Taxation, U.S. Congress.
1996
- Kaoru Dahm
- Stochastic Bargaining Theory and Order Flow
First position: Senior Economist in Nat'l Tax Analysis & Economics Group, Ernst & Young LLP.
Current position: Economist/Senior Manager, Deloitte & Touche LLP. - Szilvia Pápai
- Dominant Strategy Implementation on Private Goods Domains with
Indivisibilities
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Koc University, Istanbul.
Current position: Assistant Professor of Finance and Bus. Economics, University of Notre Dame. - Jason Saving
- Welfare Magnets, the Labor-Leisure Decision and Economic
Efficiency
First position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics, George Mason University.
Current position: Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
1997
- Gretchen Kalsow
- A Microeconometric Analysis of Consumer Response to Direct Marketing
and Mail Order
First position: Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Darden Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia. - Mishel Myagkov
- Three Essays on Russia's Transition to Democracy
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Oregon.
1998
- Micah Altman
- Districting Principles and Democratic Representation
First position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Government, Harvard University.
Current position: Associate Director, Harvard-MIT Data Center; Director, Virtual Data Center Project, Harvard U. Library, Harvard University. - Oleg Bondarenko
- Testing Rationality of Financial Markets
First position: Assistant Professor of Finance, College of Business Administration, University of Illinois - Chicago. - Mikhail Filippov
- Political Competition in Federations
First position: Visiting Lecturer in Political Methodology, Dept. of Pol. Sci., Washington University in St. Louis.
Current position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis. - Robin Hanson
- Four Puzzles in Information and Politics: Product Bans, Informed
Voters, Social Insurance, & Persistent Disagreement
First position: Visiting Postdoc - RWJF Health Policy Scholar, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley.
Current position: Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University. - Fang Wang
- Nativism in the 1990s
First position: Research Analyst, First Quadrant.
Current position: Associate Director of Research, First Quadrant.
1999
- Peter Coughlan
- Public Institutions and Private Incentives: Three Essays
First position: Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School. - Garrett Glasgow
- Issue Publics in American Politics
First position: Research Fellow, Department of Government, Harvard University.
Current position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara. - Christina Kitchen
- Statistical and Econometric Analysis of the Treatment of
HIV/AIDS
First position: Postdoctoral Fellow in Biostatistics, Dept of Biostatistics, UCLA and Assist. Research Scientist - AIDS Institute, UCLA.
Current position: Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, UCLA. - Dean Williamson
- The Design of Agency Relations: Four Essays on Contract Theory,
Applications, and Experimentation.
First position: Economist, Economic Analysis Group. - Jin Yu
- Discrete Approximations of Continuous Allocation Mechanisms
First position: Senior Research Economist, FinEcon.
Current position: Not known, Charles River Associates.
2000
- Frederick Boehmke
- Beyond the Ballot: The Influence of Direct Democracy on Interest Group
Behavior
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Iowa. - Alvaro González
- Essays on the Industrial Organization of Telecommunications and
Network Industries
First position: Research Economist, Bellcore/Telcordia Technologies.
Current position: Program Coordinator, World Bank/Investment Climate Department - Anthony Kwasnica
- Asymmetric Information and Cooperation
First position: Assistant Professor of Management Science, Pennsylvania State University. - Roberto Weber
- Interdependence in Organizations and Laboratory Groups
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Carnegie Mellon University.
2001
- Christopher Anderson
- Behavioral Models of Strategies in Multi-Armed Bandit Problems
First position: Assistant Professor of Experimental Economics, University of Rhode Island. - Tara Butterfield
- Awakening A Sleeping Giant: The Riddle of Latino Political
Participation in California and Texas
First position: Not Known. - Leslie Fine
- Cooperative and Market-Based Solutions to Pollution Abatement
Problems
First position: Software Design Engineer, Hewlett-Packard Labs.
Current position: Scientist - Information Dynamics Laboratory, Hewlett-Packard Labs. - Angela Hung
- "A Theoretical and Empirical Study of Addiction"
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics (2001) - Postdoc for 2000, Carnegie Mellon University.
Current position: Assistant Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University. - John Patty
- Voting Games with Incomplete Information
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Dept. of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie-Mellon University. - Reginald Roberts
- Protecting the Public Welfare and Morals: Political Institutions,
Federalism, and Prohibition, 1834-1934.
First position: Management Consultant: Associate, McKinsey and Company.
Current position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Michigan State University.
2002
- Valentina Bali
- The Initiative Process and The Reform of Educational Policies
First position: Assistant Professor in the Pol. Sci. Dept., Michigan State University. - Steven Callander
- Voting and Electoral Competition
First position: Assistant Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences, Northwestern University. - Marco Casari
- Understanding an Economic Dilemma: Essays on Common Property
Resources
First position: Post Doc (Dept. of Econ), Ohio State University.
Current position: Post Doc, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. - Sean Gailmard
- Principal Agent Models of Bureaucratic and Public Decision
Making
First position: Assistant Professor, Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.
2003
- Serena Guarnaschelli
- Essays on Uncertainty: An Axiomatization and Economic
Applications
First position: Management Consultant, McKinsey and Company. - Christopher Hoag
- Three Episodes in Nineteenth Century United States Banking and
Finance.
First position: Assistant Professor of Business Admin. and Economics, Coe College. - Ben Klemens
- Information Aggregation, with Application To Monotone Ordering,
Advocacy, and Conviviality.
First position: Independent Contractor. - Elizabeth M. Penn
- Cooperation and Social Choice: How Foresight Can Induce
Fairness.
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University. - Catherine Wilson
- Political Information, Institutions and Citizen Participation in
American Politics.
First position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Northwestern University. - Kathryn Zeiler
- Medical Malpractice and Contract Disclosure: A Study of the Effects
of Legal Rules on Behavior in Health Care Markets.
First position: Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center.
2004
- Elena Asparouhova
- Competition and Equilibration in Financial Markets
First position: Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Utah (David Eccles School of Business). - Carla VanBeselaere
- The Shirking Model - A Theory of How People Answer Surveys
First position: Professor of Economics, Mount Allison University.
2005
- Paul Healy
- Institutions, Incentives and Behavior: Essays in Public Economics
and Mechanism Design
First position: Assistant Professor of Economics, Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper School of Business). - Kevin Roust
- Minority Rights in Majoritarian Institutions
First position: Visiting Assistant Professor (Dept. of Political Science), Duke University.
2006
- Jernej Copic
- Robust BilateralTrade and An Essay on Awareness As An Equilibrium Notion
First position: Assistant Professor, UCLA. - Brian Rogers
- Learning and Status in Social Networks
First position: Assistant Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management (MEDS).
2007
- Delia Bailey
- Essays on Causal Inference and Political Representation
First position: Postdoctoral Fellow, CERL, Washington University. - Jon Eguia
- A Theory of Elections and Voting Blocs
First position: Assistant Professor, New York University. - Lauren Feiler
- Behavioral Biases in Information Acquisition
First position: Assistant Professor, Carleton College. - Sarah Hill
- The Pursuit of Equality Through Education Finance Reform
First position: Assistant Professor, California State University - Fullerton. - Ming Hsu
- Three Correlated Essays on the Neural Foundations of Economic Decision-Making.
First position: Beckman Postdoc Fellow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. - Debrah Meloso
- Prices, Holdings, and Learning in Financial Markets: Experiments and Methodology
First position: . - Deborah Sinclair
- Political Networks
First position: Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago.