Books
102 essential reads for tech economists.
Platform Economics
How tech's most successful products solved the 'cold start problem' using network effects. By the former head of rider growth at Uber and a16z general partner.
The foundational text on network economics - Varian became Google's Chief Economist
Rigorous platform economics by two top IO economists
Most comprehensive platform strategy book
Contrarian take - when network effects don't matter
Early platform economics - software as two-sided markets
AI & Machine Learning
Algorithmic bias and fairness - ML economics
Best economic framework for AI as cheap prediction
AI's system-level disruption - sequel to Prediction Machines
AI alignment with human values - relevant to responsible AI
Advertising & Attention
Personalization and recommendation economics
Programmatic advertising as a bubble: inflated metrics, click fraud, and misrepresented value — parallels to the 2008 housing crisis
History and economics of attention and advertising
Pricing & Market Design
Mechanism design ideas - auctions, Harberger taxes, quadratic voting
Practitioner pricing strategy from the world's leading pricing consultant
Definitive text on Monte Carlo simulation for derivatives pricing and risk management. Covers variance reduction, quasi-Monte Carlo, and Greeks estimation.
Market design from a Nobel laureate - auctions, matching markets
Pricing psychology and behavioral economics
Competition & Antitrust
Data economics and behavioral surplus extraction
Concise antitrust primer for tech
Data-driven competition economics
Labor & Gig Economy
Algorithmic management and gig economy