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Igor Letina

@igorletina.bsky.social
1.4K followers 964 following 158 posts

Associate professor, Uni Bern | Vice President, Swiss Competition Commission. Competition policy/IO, innovation economics, contest design. igorletina.com

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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
This piece of news arrived just as I was rereading the paper while preparing a talk for the 𝗢𝗘𝗖𝗗-𝗘𝗖 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁-𝗨𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲-𝗨𝗽: 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀. More details on the workshop here: www.oecd.org/en/events/20...
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Very happy to be part of this OECD workshop on start-ups’ ability to scale. If this topic interests you, take a look at the website to see the full speaker lineup and consider joining us online or in person. www.oecd.org/en/events/20...
oecd.org
From start-up to scale-up: Challenges and opportunities
This workshop explores key drivers that shape start-ups’ ability to scale. It examines how technology, access to funding, talent allocation, and market structures influence growth opportunities. The g...
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Public service announcement: there is a number of submission deadlines for conferences in the next ~2 weeks. Get your papers ready.
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Al Roth @alroth.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Are there some tasks that it would be immoral to delegate to machines? #econsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2026/02/are-...
marketdesigner.blogspot.com
Are some applications of AI repugnant?
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
I had the pleasure of speaking with Chris for this piece on acquihires and the AI exit market. The evolving regulatory landscape raises important questions about competition, talent mobility, and how innovation gets rewarded. The article does a good job of laying out the key risks and trade-offs.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Planning your summer conference schedule? I've updated my conference list for 2026, with deadlines, dates, locations, and links. You can also download calendar entries. Focus is on general conferences, IO, and theory. Let me know if I've missed something. Link: www.igorletina.com/conferences....
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
FTC Chair Ferguson recently told Bloomberg that the FTC will review AI acquihires as they would any startup acquisition. This is exactly the approach @jmbenkert.bsky.social, Shuo Liu, and I argued for in a CPI Antitrust Chronicle article last month (links below). www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u_h...
youtube.com
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson Talks Acquihires | Bloomberg Talks
YouTube video by Bloomberg Podcasts
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JKU Department of Economics @jku-economics.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
We are happy to announce that the inaugural Bern/Linz Innovation & Knowledge (BLInK) Workshop will take place next week at the University of Bern. Many thanks to @igorletina.bsky.social and @jsndr.bsky.social for putting together a fantastic program.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
I don't think AI knows what "intuitively" means.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
*Killer Acquisitions* news: the French Competition Authority has for the first time sanctioned a non-notifiable killer acquisition. Source: www.clearygottlieb.com/news-and-ins...
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Florian Scheuer @florianscheuer.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics. 🧵 1/7
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Ben Waber @bwaber.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Next was a jam-packed panel on the competition risks of AI acquihires with @florianederer.bsky.social, @lugaricano.bsky.social, @igorletina.bsky.social, @imarinescu.bsky.social, Hans Zenger, Jonathan Kanter, and @cristinacaffarra.bsky.social at the @cepr.org www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zrS... (4/7)
youtube.com
AI Acquihires: Competition Risks, Talent Battles and Economic Spillovers
YouTube video by CEPR & VideoVox Economics
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Florian Ederer @florianederer.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Excited to moderate this panel on "AI Acquihires: Competition Risks, Talent Battles and Economic Spillovers" with the antitrust all-star team of Kanter, Garicano, Marinescu, Letina, and Zenger. Wednesday, 8 October 2025 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM (ET) Registration: cepr-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
cepr-org.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: AI Acquihires: Competition Risks, Talent Battles, and Economic Spillovers. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webina...
Antitrust agencies are increasingly confronted with “acquihires” of AI start-ups — yet most cases so far have been waved through under the banner of “uncertainty.” A decade ago, similar caution around...
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Very happy to see two of my papers cited in the recent CMA report on "Investment and competition over the business lifecycle." The report provides an excellent overview of the literature. Thanks to @jschneebacher.bsky.social and coauthors for preparing it!
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
A new article in the WSJ on reverse acquihires. The main point it makes is that one group that loses out in a reverse acquihire are the employees who are left behind. This will make it more difficult for future startups to attract employees. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-r...
wsj.com
Big Tech Is Eating Itself in Talent War
The scramble by tech companies for top AI talent is using unorthodox methods that imperil Silicon Valley’s startup culture.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
A person sends you an e-mail and you notice that it was written by chatgpt. How do you react? I don't know why, but I tend to have an instinctive negative reaction to it.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
A thread on "reverse acquihires" in the AI space. Reverse acquihires are characterized by two things: 1) the buyer takes over the most important/talented employees and 2) the buyer pays a hefty sum to the target firm via a side deal. They are becoming common in the AI space:
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
One thing I have not seen mentioned in the discussion about compensation packages for AI engineers is that firms are willing to pay not just for what value those employees bring to them, but also for the value that their competitors lose. In a sense, firms are partly trying to *hoard AI talent* 1/2
bloomberg.com
Meta Poached Apple’s Pang With Pay Package Over $200 Million
Meta Platforms Inc. has made unusually high compensation offers to new members of its “superintelligence” team — including a more than $200 million package for a former Apple Inc. distinguished engine...
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Ben Golub @bengolub.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
I've been working on a new tool, Refine, to make scholars more productive. If you're interested in being among the very first to try the beta, please read on. Refine leverages the best current AI models to draw your attention to potential errors and clarity issues in research paper drafts. 1/
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Gems you find while reading about past inducement prizes/innovation contests: in 1936, Polish mathematician Stanisław Mazur offered a live goose to whoever solved one mathematical problem involving Banach spaces. 37 years later, Swedish mathematician Per Enflo got the goose.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
PSA: The special topic of this year's South Carolina Game Theory Conference is *Advances in Contest Theory*. The conference takes place on August 6-7, 2025 and the application deadline is May 16, 2025. Link: sites.google.com/view/thescgt...
sites.google.com
TheSCGTConference2025
South Carolina Game Theory Conference
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Jörg Oechssler @oechssler.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
I have a postdoc position in Behavioral/Experimental Economics available for 6 years, at the oldest university in Germany in beautiful Heidelberg. Please forward to anyone who might be interested! #EconJobs #AcademicJobs #HigherEd #Economics #JobAlert
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
One of the best conferences for those working on contests is going to Australia this year! Submission deadline is June 1, 2025 and more info can be found here: www.rmit.edu.au/about/school...
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
Hey, Jon Stewart, uncalled-for!
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
So it seems that my colleague Jean-Michel Benkert is too modest to mention it himself, but I think it is a great thing that he has accepted to be an arXiv moderator for economics. Thanks for providing the public good, @jmbenkert.bsky.social!
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Letzten Monat hielt Edward Glaeser an der Universität Bern einen Vortrag zum Thema «Cities and Infrastructure». Dieses Interview mit ihm erörtert die wichtigsten Themen seines Vortrags. www.derbund.ch/uni-bern-us-...
derbund.ch
Wohnen in der Stadt: «Bauen ist die einzige Medizin, um der Wohnungsnot zu begegnen»
Bezahlbare Wohnungen gebe es in jenen US-Städten, die den Wohnungsmarkt am wenigsten regulierten, sagt Ökonom Edward Glaeser.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Planning your 2025 economics conference schedule? I've updated my list of general interest, IO, and theory conferences: www.igorletina.com/conferences.... New this year: you can generate a calendar file 📅 to easily track dates and submission deadlines of selected conferences. #econsky
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
The deadline for applications is January 31, 2025.
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Carlo Reggiani @mikybartoli.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
👇👇👇
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
So, I'm pretty sure this means that Sauron is back.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
My first year as a Vice President of the Swiss Competition Commission is ending, and I thought this was a good opportunity to look back on the decisions that I've spent the most time thinking about. Four stand out:
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Jean-Michel Benkert @jmbenkert.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
1/7 In our new WP Strategic Attribute Learning, Ludmila Matysková, Egor Starkov, and I study how preference misalignment between a researcher and a decision-maker shapes learning and decision-making. [Link below]
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
The recent blind hostility towards the use of AI in learning reminds me SO MUCH of the discussions around the use of Wikipedia from the time when I was a student. www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/01...
insidehighered.com
A Stand Against Wikipedia
Middlebury's history professors, as a department, tell students they can't cite the popular (and not always accurate) Web encyclopedia.
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Florian Ederer @florianederer.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
How big is the cold-start problem on Airbnb? Pretty big! Lowering the price of new listings relative to incumbent ones would lead to a welfare increase of more than 8% of total host revenue, mostly benefitting consumers. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
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Matt Clancy @mattsclancy.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Innovation job market papers round up! Over the last week, I found 50+ papers from PhDs going on the job market and I’ll post a few abstracts to this thread every day until they’re all up.
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Kyle Myers @kroymyers.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Calling all PhD students interested in innovation -- Submit your work to the 8th Annual Wharton Innovation Doctoral Symposium; highly recommended! mackinstitute.wharton.upenn.edu/students/wha...
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
1/ New (short!) paper with @jmbenkert.bsky.social. The question that we are interested in is this: when should you stop searching for an innovation? Surprisingly (to us) the answer in our model is: never. Link to the paper: arxiv.org/abs/2412.03227
Screenshot of the paper title and abstract.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
arXiv is, imo, the best place for publishing working papers and we should recognize the work that volunteers do to provide this public good to us. Here is the list of current arXiv moderators for economics:
List of arXiv moderators for economics.
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Heski Bar-Isaac @profeski.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
New paper and online presentation #EconSky “Content Moderation for Sale: Pricing Attention through Steering and Certification” with the fantastic Rahul Deb and Matt Mitchell TLDR haiku: Certify poorly, so you can sell more to bots? Attention matters 1/8
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
I just spent 20 minutes on Google/Bing/DuckDuckGo trying to find out what is the newsstand price of The Economist. Without success. Can it be this difficult to find such trivial information online?
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Monika Bütler @monikabuetler.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
#bankrun prevention in #Greece
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
#econsky, here is an interesting-looking conference for PhD students: wzb.eu/en/events/1s...
wzb.eu
1st Berlin Micro Theory and Behavioral Economics PhD Conference
This conference is dedicated to fostering discussion and collaboration among emerging scholars in the fields of microeconomic theory and behavioral economics.
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Love this paper!
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
I am teaching a class tomorrow on competition and algorithms. This is the slide I am opening with.
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Ioana Marinescu @imarinescu.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Key reminder: even if high rents are partly driven by supply & demand, it doesn’t make it fine for landlords & software companies like RealPage to use anticompetitive algorithms to further increase rent. #antitrust
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Giving a talk in a place where you were a student is such a strange experience. Some 13 years later, the exam anxiety still hits hard! (The seminar experience was wonderful though -- so many great and kind people at Bocconi!)
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Ben Golub @bengolub.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Here's Bryan Caplan writing about math in economics. Seems very wrong to me. I wonder what the quickest refutation is that would make sense to most practicing economists. www.betonit.ai/p/economath_...
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Igor Letina @igorletina.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
I have missed threads like this one SO MUCH!
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Tilman Börgers @tilmanborgers.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Suppose you didn't know who won the election. Two options: (i) I tell you whether it was Trump, or it was Harris, (ii) I don't tell you the winner, but I tell you who won Michigan. According to the rational inattention literature, (ii) has better chances of catching your attention than (i).
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Nelson Sunuwar @nelson-snwr.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
That concludes our two-day Market Power workshop on Camille Jordan, Columbian hydropower and many equilibrium Constellations.
Chris and his matrix to compressparticipants on a beautiful day in zurich, with on the left the UZH building
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