Profile
Profile

Prof. Dr. Benny Moldovanu

E-mail: mold(at)uni-bonn.de
Phone: +49 228 73 6395
Homepage: http://www.econ2.uni-bonn.de/moldovanu
Institute: Department of Economics
Research Areas: Research Area B3
Research Area C2

Academic Career

1989

M.Sc. in Mathematics, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Israel

1991

PhD in Economics, University of Bonn

1991 - 1995

Assistant Professor, University of Bonn

1992 - 1993

Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

1995

Habilitation, University of Bonn

1995 - 2002

Professor (C4), University of Mannheim

1998

Visiting Research Professor, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

Since 2002

Professor (C4/W3) of Economics, University of Bonn

2004

Visiting Professor, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

2005

Visiting Professor, University College London, England, UK

2009

Visiting Professor, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

Research Profile

My main research has applied game theory and information economics to auctions [1,2], mechanism design [3,4,5], contests and matching [6,7,8] and voting [9,10]. These applications require an array of mathematical concepts, methods, and results from several fields such as variational and convex analysis, probability and mathematical statistics, differential geometry and combinatorial optimization. A common conceptual thread is the quest for mechanisms (i.e., “rules of the game”) that lead to desirable outcomes even if the agents (who are endowed with their own goals, resources and information) behave strategically. A major recent advance was establishing the equivalence between dominant strategy and Bayesian implementation in private values frameworks with one dimensional types [3]. The applied methods were borrowed from the mathematics of computed tomography.

Research Projects and Activities

DFG Collaborative Research Center SFB/TR 15 “Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems”
Principal Investigator, “Auction and Mechanism Design in Complex Environments”

ERC Advanced Grant “Dynamic Mechanism Design”
Principal Investigator

Bonn Graduate School of Economics
Speaker

DFG Cluster of Excellence “Hausdorff Center for Mathematics”
Principal Investigator

DFG Collaborative Research Center SFB/TR 224 “Economic Perspectives on Societal Challenges: Equality of Opportunity, Market Regulation, and Financial Stability ”,
Principal Investigator, project “Information aggregation and the role of transfers in mechanism design”

Selected Publications

[1] Alex Gershkov, Benny Moldovanu
Learning About The Future and Dynamic Efficiency
Am. Econ. Rev. , 99: (4): 1576--1588
Publisher: American Economic Association
2009
[2] Philippe Jehiel, Benny Moldovanu, Ennio Stacchetti
How (not) to Sell Nuclear Weapons
Am. Econ. Rev. , 86: (4): 814--829
Publisher: JSTOR
1996
[3] Alex Gershkov, Jacob K. Goeree, Alexey Kushnir, Benny Moldovanu, Xianwen Shi
On the equivalence of Bayesian and dominant strategy implementation
Econometrica , 81: (1): 197--220
2013
DOI: 10.3982/ECTA10592
[4] Philippe Jehiel, Moritz Meyer-ter-Vehn, Benny Moldovanu, William R. Zame
The limits of ex post implementation
Econometrica , 74: (3): 585--610
2006
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0262.2006.00675.x
[5] Philippe Jehiel, Benny Moldovanu
Efficient design with interdependent valuations
Econometrica , 69: (5): 1237--1259
2001
DOI: 10.1111/1468-0262.00240
[6] Heidrun C. Hoppe, Benny Moldovanu, Aner Sela
The theory of assortative matching based on costly signals
Rev. Econom. Stud. , 76: (1): 253--281
2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-937X.2008.00517.x
[7] Benny Moldovanu, Aner Sela, Xianwen Shi
Contests for Status
J. Pol. Econ. , 115: (2): 338--363
Publisher: [Chicago]: University of Chicago Press, 1892-
2007
[8] Benny Moldovanu, Aner Sela
The Optimal Allocation of Prizes in Contests
Am. Econ. Rev. , 91: (3): 542--558
Publisher: JSTOR
2001
[9] Andreas Kleiner, Benny Moldovanu
Content-based Agendas and Qualified Majorities in Sequential Voting
Am. Econ. Rev.
2017
[10] Alex Gershkov, Xianwen Shi, Benny Moldovanu
Optimal Voting Rules
Rev. Econ. Stud.
2016

Publication List

MathSciNet Publication List (external link)

RePEc Publication List (external link)

Editorships

• Journal of Economic Theory (Associate Editor, 2001 - 2009)
• Games and Economic Behavior (Associate Editor, 2002 - 2007)
• Econometrica (Associate Editor, 2002 - 2008)

Awards

2001

Max Planck Research Award

2004

Member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts

2004

Gossen Prize of the German Economic Association

2004

Fellow of the Econometric Society

2010

ERC Advanced Investigator Grant

Selected Invited Lectures

2002

Econometric Society European Meeting, Venice, Italy

2003

Econometric Society US Meeting, Evanston, IL, USA

2004

World Congress, Game Theory Society, Marseille, France

2005

World Congress, Econometric Society, London, England, UK

2008

European Congress, Econometric Society, Milan, Italy

2011

Keynote Lecture, EARIE Annual Conference, Stockholm, Sweden

Habilitations

Christian Ewerhart (1999), now Professor, University of Zürich, Switzerland

Oliver Kirchkamp (2001), now Professor, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena

Roman Inderst (2002), now Professor, Goethe University, Frankfurt

Aner Sela (2002), now Professor, Ben Gurion University Beer Sheeva, Israel

Heidrun Hoppe (2004), now Professor, University of Hannover

Alex Gershkov (2007), now Professor, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Israel

Paul Schweinzer (2008), now Professor, Klagenfurt University, Austria

Selected PhD students

Thomas Kittsteiner (2002): “Applications of Mechanism and Auction Design to Partnership Dissolution and Sequential Sale”, now Professor, RWTH Aachen

Moritz Meyer-ter-Vehn (2003): “Ex-post implementation: Impossibility, Characterizations and Mixed Bundling Auctions”,
now Associate Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Xianwen Shi (2007): “Contests and auctions”,
now Associate Professor, University of Toronto, ON, Canada

Alexander Westkamp (2009): “Matching Markets Essays on Matching Markets”,
now Associate Professor, University of Cologne

Konrad Mierendorff (2010): “Dynamic Mechanism Design”,
now Lecturer, University College London, England, UK

Nora Szech (2010): “Five Essays in Economic Theory”,
now Professor, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Deniz Dizdar (2013): “Four Essays in Economic Theory”,
now Assistant Professor, University of Montreal, QC, Canada

Ann Kathrin Rosler (2014): “Matching and Information Acquisition”,
now Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

Andreas Kleiner (2015): “Mechanism Design without Money”,
now Assistant Professor, Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA

Supervised Theses

  • Diplom theses: 30, currently 1
  • PhD theses: 15, currently 4
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