Nir Vulkan

Nir Vulkan is Associate Professor of Business Economics at Saïd Business School and Fellow of Worcester College, both at the University of Oxford. He is a leading authority on e-commerce and market design, and on applied research and teaching on hedge funds.

Nir is author of one of the leading texts on the microeconomics of e-commerce, The Economics of E-Commerce: A Strategic Guide to Understanding and Designing the Online Marketplace. The book analyses online trading mechanisms and the way in which web-based technologies such as bidding elves, smart agents and shopping bots, influence the behaviour of consumers and retailers.

More recently, Nir has edited, with Al Roth and Zvika Neeman. The handbook contains a selection of the latest research in the growing field of market design, and draws on Vulkan’s interest and expertise in markets, both virtual and those confined to particular geographical locations. He is particularly interested in how lessons from successful and unsuccessful markets can be learned and transferred to different environments. Part of the book examines issues raised by the fact that the internet is now the preferred platform for most markets, and the wide choice this gives consumers. He also examines markets linked to geography where participants have little choice.

Nir did a BSc in Mathematics and Computer Science at Tel Aviv University and gained a doctorate in Economics at University College, London, where he was awarded the Dean Scholarship for excellence in PhD studies. He became a Lecturer at Bristol University in 1997, and in 2001 moved to Saïd Business School. He was the Director of the Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (OxCEI) and the co-founder and Director of OxLab, a laboratory for social science experiments, both at Saїd Business School.

Education

• PhD Economics (Magna Cum Laude) UCL
• B.Sc. Mathematics and Computer Science (Cum Laude) Tel Aviv University

Companies

• Chair: Banking and Finance Committee AI for People (2020)
• Professor Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (2002)