Home > CV
May
2025
Alexander Cowles White
Fields of Interest
Platform Economics, Industrial
Organization, Applied Theory
Primary Employment
2025 – present: Senior Vice President, Compass Lexecon
2018 – 2024: Associate Professor, Department of
Economics, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University
2014 – 2024: Director, Competition Policy Research
Program, National Institute for Fiscal Studies, Tsinghua University
2011 – 2018: Assistant Professor, Department of
Economics, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University
2010 – 2011: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of
Economics, Harvard University
Visiting Positions
2021 – 2022: Visiting Scholar, Department of Economics,
Boston College
2019 – 2020: Visiting Scholar, Harvard Business School
2017 – 2021: Visiting Researcher, Department of
Economics, Boston University
Education
Ph.D.
in Economics (with highest distinction), Toulouse School of Economics, February
2011
Dissertation Title: “Essays on the
Economics of the Internet”
M.A. in
Economics, Toulouse School of Economics, July 2006
B.A. in Economics (with honors),
Columbia University, February 2005
Diplôme du programme international, Sciences Po
Paris, July 2003
Research
Publications
“Platform
Competition and Interoperability: The Net Fee Model”
(with Mehmet Ekmekci and Lingxuan
Wu). Management Science, forthcoming.
“Double
Marginalization and Misplacement in Online Advertising”
(with Kamal Jain, Shota Ichihashi and Byung-Cheol Kim). Journal of
Industrial Economics, vol. 72, no. 2, pp. 940-964, 2024.
“Platform
Economics: Recent Findings and Further Questions”.
CPI Antitrust Chronicle, June (vol. 2), 2022.
“Vertical
Agreements and User Access” (with Germain Gaudin). American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 328-371, 2021.
“Outsiders,
Insiders and Interventions in the Housing Market”
(with Xiaokuai Shao). Journal of Comparative Economics, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 110-134,
March 2021.
“Multidimensional Platform Design” (with Andre Veiga and Glen Weyl). American
Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), vol. 107, no. 5, May 2017.
“Let the Right ‘One’
Win: Policy Lessons from the New Economics of Platforms”
(with Glen Weyl). Competition Policy
International, vol. 10, no. 2, Autumn 2014, p. 29-51. Published in Chinese as 让最好的一方赢–平台产业新经济学的政策含义,比较, vol. 76, no. 1, 2015,
p. 41-64.
“Search Engines: Left Side Quality versus Right Side
Profits”. International Journal of Industrial Organization, vol. 31, no. 6,
November 2013, p. 690-701. (Won 2014 IJIO
Best Paper Award)
“Walrasian Equilibrium in Large, Quasilinear Economies”
(with Eduardo Azevedo and Glen Weyl). Theoretical
Economics, vol. 8, no. 2, May 2013, p. 281-290.
“Economics of
Online Platforms”, in The New Palgrave Dictionary of
Economics. Online Edition. Eds. Steven N. Durlauf
and Lawrence E. Blume. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Working
Papers
“Optional
Intermediaries and Pricing Restraints” (with Chang Liu and Fengshi Niu). Revision requested by the Journal of
Economics & Management Strategy.
“Mobile Commerce: A Higher-Friction Envrionment
than PC-Based Shopping” (with Yubo Chen and Banggang
Wu).
“Insulated
Platform Competition” (with Glen Weyl).
“On
the Antitrust Economics of the Electronic Books Industry”
(with Germain Gaudin).
“Unit
versus Ad Valorem Taxation Under Revenue Maximization”
(with Germain Gaudin).
“Half-Hearted
Cooperation and the Evolution of Altruism”.
Policy
Report
“Platform Economics and Tech Giants: Competition in the Market and for
the Market and Implications for Regulation and Merger Policy” (with Baiyun Jing). Report prepared for the Beijing Cairncross Economic Research Foundation
study on Competition Policy for
China’s Digital Economy: Some International Perspectives, 2022.
Business
Case
“Steemit: A New Social Media?” (with Ramon Casadesus-Masanell
and Karen Elterman). Harvard Business
School Publishing. Case# 9-720-428, 2019.
Professional
Activities
Microsoft Research
· Week-long
visits at New England Lab, 2010, 2014, 2015
· Intern, Theory
Group, Redmond Lab, June – August 2008
· Visitor, Theory
Group, Redmond Lab, March, 2008
Courses Taught at Tsinghua SEM
Industrial
Organization (undergrad and Ph.D. levels)
Economics
of Online Platforms and the Sharing Economy (freshman seminar)
Enterprise
Organization and Analysis (MBA strategy elective with focus on emerging
technologies and platform business models in China)
Fellowships and Awards
International Journal of
Industrial Organization Best Paper Award, 2014
National Natural Science Foundation of China Research Grant (joint with
Ming Gao, Glen Weyl and Jie Zheng), 2013 – 2015
Tsinghua University Research Grant (joint with Ming Gao), 2012 – 2014
Tsinghua SEM Outstanding Faculty Award, 2013
NET Institute Summer Grant, 2010
Chair Orange fellowship from Télécom ParisTech and France Télécom, 2009 – 2010
Allocataire de
recherche (three-year
fellowship awarded by French government), 2006 – 2009
Professional Service
Editorial Board Member: Review
of Network Economics, 2016 – present
Referee: American
Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Review, B.E. Journal of
Economic Analysis & Policy, Communications
& Strategies, Econometrica,
Economic Journal, Economics Letters,
European Economic Review, Frontiers of Business Research in China,
Games and Economic Behavior, Information
Systems Research, INFORMS Journal on
Computing, International Conference on Information Systems 2008, International Economic Review, International
Journal of Industrial Organization (Won Excellence in Reviewing Award,
2013), Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Economics & Management
Strategy, Journal of Industrial Economics, Journal of Law &
Economics, Journal of the European
Economic Association, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Regulatory Economics, Management Science, Mathematical
Social Sciences, Oxford Economic
Papers, Oxford University Press, Quarterly
Journal of Economics, RAND Journal of
Economics, Review of Economic Studies,
Review of Economics and Statistics, Review
of Industrial Organization, Review of
Network Economics, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada, Transactions on Economics and
Computation
Program Committee Member for: 13th
ACM Conference on Electronic Commerce, Valencia, Spain, 2012; 7th
Workshop on Ad Auctions, San Jose, CA, 2011
Conference and Seminar Presentations
2025: Digital Economics Conference, Toulouse
2023: Workshop on Market Power, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Bank of
Canada, Ottawa; American Economic Association Winter Meeting, New Orleans
2022: Platform
Research Symposium, Boston U.
(discussant)
2021: TSE Economics
Platform Seminar (discussant); TSE Economics Platform Seminar; Platform
Research Symposium, Boston U., Questrom School of Business; Boston U.,
Department of Economics
2020: 13th
Digital Economics Conference (discussant), Toulouse; TSE Economics Platform
Seminar (discussant)
2019: Conference on
Industrial Economics, Zhejiang U.; Compass Lexecon, Boston; School of
Management, Fudan U.; Institute of Economics and Business, Beihang
U.; Workshop on Industrial Organization and Competition Policy, U. of
International Business and Economics, Beijing
2018: University of
Miami, Department of Economics; Boston U., Department of Economics; Platform
Research Symposium, Boston U., Questrom School of Business (discussant);
Workshop on Industrial Organization and Competition Policy, University of
International Business and Economics, Beijing; Boston U., Department of
Economics
2017: National School
of Development, Peking University; Georgetown U., Department of Economics; US
Federal Communications Commission; BEAT Conference, Tsinghua University;
National School of Development, Peking University; Workshop on Industrial
Organization and Competition Policy, University of International Business and
Economics, Beijing
2016: Conference on
Industrial Economics, Zhejiang University; TSE Conference in Honor of Jacques Crémer, Toulouse (discussant); Shanghai University of
Finance and Economics, Antitrust Economics and Policy Workshop; Department of
Economics, Lingnan U., Hong Kong
2015: Sixth Annual
Conference on Internet Search and Innovation, Northwestern University Law
School; TSE-IDEI Software and Internet Conference, Toulouse
2014: Caixin Summit,
Beijing; Workshop on Industrial Organization, Korea University, Seoul;
LACEA-LAMES Annual Meeting, Sao Paulo; Department of Economics, Hong Kong
University of Sciences and Technology; Conference on Industrial Economics,
Zhejiang University; Conference on Mechanism Design and Industrial Organization
in Honor of Jean-Jacques Laffont, Nanchang, China; SSK International Conference
on Competition and Information Economy, Yonsei University, Seoul; IDEI
Conference on E-commerce, Digital Economy and Delivery Services, Toulouse;
University of Miami, Department of Economics
2013: Workshop on
Multi-Sided Platforms, National University of Singapore; Research Center for
Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei; Department of
Economics, University of Tokyo; Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics,
Xiamen University; Summer School on Digitization and its Impacts on Society,
Dresden (keynote); Fourth Annual Conference on Internet Search and Innovation,
Northwestern University Law School (discussant); University of Virginia,
Department of Economics
2012: Asian Meeting
of the Econometric Society, Delhi; Peking University HSBC Business School,
Shenzhen; Zhejiang University, Dept. of Economics; Beijing Theory Workshop;
Shanghai Workshop on Industrial Organization and Competition Policy; Shanghai
Microeconomics Workshop; Toulouse School of Economics IP&IT Workshop;
Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, School of Economics
2011: IOSM Workshop,
Peking University; Ninth Workshop on Media Economics, New Economic School,
Moscow; Bates White Antitrust Conference, Washington D.C.; CEPR-JIE Conference
on Applied Industrial Organization, Tel Aviv; International Industrial
Organization Conference, Boston; Tsinghua University, School of Economics and
Management; US Department of Justice; US Federal Trade Commission; US Federal
Communications Commission; Indiana University, Kelley School of Business; IDEI
Software and Internet Conference, Toulouse
2010: University of
Miami, Department of Economics; Harvard Industrial Organization Brown Bag; NET
Institute Conference, New York; Chair
Orange Conference on “Search and Web Advertisement Strategies”,
Paris; Toulouse School of Economics Theory Seminar; Workshop on the Economics
of Advertising and Marketing, IESE, Barcelona; Platform Markets: Regulation and
Competition Policy, ZEW Mannheim; Paris School of Economics; German Institute
for Economic Research (DIW), Berlin; Xerox Research Centre Europe, Grenoble;
Microsoft Research New England, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2009: Research
Institute of Industrial Economics, Stockholm; Econometric Society European
Meeting, Barcelona; ZEW Conference on the Economics of ICT, Mannheim; Télécom ParisTech Conference on the Economics of
ICT, Paris;
INFORMS Marketing Science Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan; University of Hong
Kong, School of Economics and Finance; European University Institute,
Department of Economics, Florence; IDEI Software and Internet Conference,
Toulouse
2008: LACEA-LAMES
Annual Meeting, Rio de Janeiro; University College London, Department of
Economics; ZEW Conference on the Economics of ICT, Mannheim
Languages
English (native), Spanish (fluent),
French (fluent), Spoken Mandarin (intermediate), Turkish (intermediate)
Other
Member of
Columbia University Varsity Golf Team, 2000 – 2002
Alumnus of School Year Abroad,
Zaragoza, 1999 – 2000