Katharine Anderson1

Kate (Katharine) Anderson

I am a phd economics student at the University of Michigan. I also participate in the U of M Center for the Study of Complex Systems. My interests include information, decision theory, group formation, diversity, common pool resources, public goods, and rent-seeking. Projects I am working on include a model of endogenous group formation, an experimental economics paper on rent seeking

My research wiki, The Dismal Scientist, is a work in progress

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Answers to the Questions Posed:

1) I have experience in game theory, decision theory, agent based models, and graph theory. I also have experience in statistics and regression analysis--though I often don't like to use it.

2) I would like to learn some more nonlinear dynamics--economists use nonlinear dynamics, but we are overly concerned with equilibrium. I am also really interested to learn some mathematical biology, just for my own interest.

3) I am excited about the prospect of using physical techniques (percolation and statistical mechanics, specifically) to add a spatial element to existing equation-based economic models. I am especially interested in this in the context of limited information, but there are also potential applications in the maintenance of common pool resources. I am also generally interested in addressing the idea of scale in economic models.

4) I would love to be able to start thinking about models of information flow in an economic system. Specifically, I would like to think about enforcement in a common pool resource where there is a spatial or social network.

5) Well, group formation is certainly a "big problem". I'm also ultimately interested in how agent's self-organize to manage resources. Under what conditions is this kind of self-organization successful? But then, all of economics is ultimately a "big problem".

6) Decision theory.