{"id":249560,"date":"2016-07-07T09:12:49","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T16:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-event&p=249560"},"modified":"2016-08-18T17:50:16","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T00:50:16","slug":"theory-colloquium","status":"publish","type":"msr-event","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/event\/theory-colloquium\/","title":{"rendered":"Theory Colloquium"},"content":{"rendered":"
Microsoft Research New England <\/a> The Microsoft Research New England Theory Colloquium focuses on research in the foundational aspects of computing, communication, networks and society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr_startdate":"","msr_enddate":"","msr_location":"","msr_expirationdate":"","msr_event_recording_link":"","msr_event_link":"","msr_event_link_redirect":false,"msr_event_time":"","msr_hide_region":false,"msr_private_event":true,"footnotes":""},"research-area":[],"msr-region":[197900],"msr-event-type":[197944],"msr-video-type":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-program-audience":[],"msr-post-option":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"class_list":["post-249560","msr-event","type-msr-event","status-publish","hentry","msr-region-north-america","msr-event-type-hosted-by-microsoft","msr-locale-en_us"],"msr_about":"Microsoft Research New England <\/a>\r\nFirst Floor Conference Center\r\nOne Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA","tab-content":[{"id":0,"name":"About","content":"The Microsoft Research New England Theory Colloquium focuses on research in the foundational aspects of computing, communication, networks and society. While a wide variety of perspectives have been utilized successfully to improve our understanding of these fields, this colloquium series focuses on research with a mathematical flavor, and aims to bring speakers from a variety of fields to describe their work. The talks are intended to be accessible to young researchers in diverse fields.\r\n\r\nThe Theory Colloquium is now part of the Microsoft Research Colloquium<\/a>."},{"id":1,"name":"Past Speakers","content":"[accordion]\r\n\r\n[panel header=\"Costs and Benefits of Dynamic Trading in a Lemons\u00a0\u00a0A Model of Focusing in Economic Choice\"]\r\n\r\nAdam Szeidl<\/a>, Berkeley Wednesday, June 27 4:00 PM \u2013 5:30 PM | Video<\/a>\r\n\r\nDescription<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWe present a generally applicable theory of focusing based on the hypothesis that a person focuses more on, and hence overweights, attributes in which her options differ more. Our model predicts that the decisionmaker is too prone to choose options with concentrated advantages relative to alternatives, but maximizes utility when the advantages and disadvantages of alternatives are equally concentrated. In intertemporal choice, the decisionmaker exhibits present bias and time inconsistency when---such as in lifestyle choices and other widely invoked applications of hyperbolic discounting---the future costs of current misbehavior are distributed over many dates, and the effects of multiple decisions accumulate. But unlike in previous models, (1) present bias is lower when the costs of current misbehavior are less dispersed, helping to explain why individuals respond more to monetary incentives than to health concerns in harmful consumption; and (2) time inconsistency is lower when the ex-ante choice integrates fewer decisions with accumulating effects. In addition, the agent does not fully maximize welfare even when making decisions ex ante: (3) she commits to too much of an activity---e.g., exercise or work---that is beneficial overall; and (4) makes ``future-biased'' commitments when---such as in preparing for a big event---the benefit of many periods' effort is concentrated in a single goal. URL: http:\/\/www.personal.ceu.hu\/staff\/Adam_Szeidl\/papers\/focusing.pdf<\/a>\r\n\r\nBiography <\/strong>\r\n\r\nAdam Szeidl is professor of economics at Central European University. His research has focused on the economics of social networks, household consumption, and international trade. Szeidl received his PhD from Harvard University in 2004. The same year he joined the faculty of the Economics Department at UC-Berkeley, where he stayed until 2012, most recently as tenured associate professor. Adam has published in leading economics journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Journal of Economic Theory. He received a European Research Council Starter Grant in 2011, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in 2010 and has been supported by the National Science Foundation since 2005. Szeidl is a member of the NBER and the CEPR.\r\n\r\n[\/panel]\r\n\r\n[panel header=\"Costs and Benefits of Dynamic Trading in a Lemons\"]\r\n\r\nAndrzej Skrzypacz<\/a>, Stanford Wednesday, June 20 4:00 PM \u2013 5:30 PM\r\n\r\nDescription<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWe study a dynamic market with asymmetric information that induces the lemons problem. We compare efficiency of the market under different assumption about the timing of trade. We show that there generally exist conditions under which efficiency can be improved by temporarily closing the market as compared to continuous trading opportunities. Full paper and most current abstract available here: http:\/\/www.stanford.edu\/~skrz\/Dynamic_Lemons.pdf<\/a>\r\n\r\nBiography <\/strong>\r\n\r\nAndrzej (Andy) Skrzypacz is the Theodore J. Kreps Professor of Economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Professor, by courtesy at the Department of Economics. His research is in microeconomic theory, specializing in market design, economic dynamics and collusion. He is currently a co-editor of the American Economic Review and an associate editor at the Rand Journal of Economics. He has received a Stanford GSB PhD Distinguished Service Award in 2005 and has advised over a dozen of Ph.D. dissertations.\r\n\r\n[\/panel]\r\n\r\n[panel header=\"Quantum Hamiltonian Complexity\"]\r\n\r\nUmesh Vazirani<\/a>, Berkeley Wednesday, June 13 4:00 PM \u2013 5:30 PM | Video<\/a>\r\n\r\nDescription<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWe consider three basic questions about quantum mechanics:\r\n
\nFirst Floor Conference Center
\nOne Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\r\n \t
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Spring\/Summer\u00a0of 2012<\/h2>\r\n
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Spring\/Summer of 2011<\/h2>\r\n
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Fall of 2010<\/h2>\r\n
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