Joshua Gans
Professor of Strategic Management
Department: Rotman School of Management
Colleges / Universities: University of Toronto
Contact
105 St.George Street
Toronto, ON M5S 3E6
CANADA
Email: joshua.gans@gmail.com
Website: University of Toronto faculty profile
Blog: Joshua Gans - Digitopoly
Joshua Gans is the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship, as well as Professor of Strategic Management, at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management. Previously he was a professor at the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne, and at the School of Economics, University of New South Wales.
Professor Gans holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and an honors degree in economics from the University of Queensland. He teaches introductory microeconomics, technology strategy, economics of organisations, incentives and contracts, and market design using game theory.
While his research interests are varied, Professor Gans has developed specialities in the nature of technological competition and innovation, economic growth, publishing economics, industrial organisation and regulatory economics. This has culminated in publications in the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, RAND Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Public Economics, and the Journal of Regulatory Economics. Joshua serves as an associate editor of Management Science and the Journal of Industrial Economics and is on the editorial boards of the BE Journals of Economic Analysis and Policy, Economic Analysis and Policy, Games and the Review of Network Economics. In 2007, Professor Gans was awarded the Economic Society of Australia’s Young Economist Award. In 2008, he was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Australia. Details of his research activities can be found here.
On the consulting side, Professor Gans is managing director of CoRE Research. In the past, he has worked with several established consulting firms including London Economics, Frontier Economics and Charles River Associates. He has also been retained by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission where he worked on several abuse of market power cases (against Boral and Safeway) as well as on issues in telecommunications network competition. Overall his consulting experience covers energy (gas and electricity markets), telecommunications, financial services and banking, pharmaceuticals and rail transport.
Degrees
B.Econ. University of Queensland
Ph.D. Stanford University
Recent Academic Article Summaries
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems improve the quality of business decisions. Early applications of AI are not transformative. However, AI can transform business processes entirely by changing patterns of decision-making.
AI has ripple effects that will ultimately transform all business processes.
Prediction, Judgment, and Complexity: A Theory of Decision Making and Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) raises the possibility that machines will substitute for humans. AI improves the accuracy of predictions, but when a prediction cannot be made with absolute certainty, judgment is needed to choose the best course of action. Judgment can sometimes be automated.
The affects of AI on employment are uncertain. AI will affect contracting behavior and the boundaries between firms.
Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) now offer improved predictions, which will reduce uncertainty and lead to the redesign of business strategies. AI will affect jobs, the concentration of corporate power, privacy, and politics around the world.
AI will require tradeoffs; more innovation might mean less competition. Demand for data might mean less privacy.
Scholarly Publishing and its Discontents: An Economist’s Perspective on Dealing with Market Power and Its Consequences
Scholarly journals charge libraries high prices for access to academic articles. Activists protest such restrictions on access to knowledge. Some hoped that the Internet would improve access to academic publishing, but this effect is limited.
Innovative business models could make scholarly articles more accessible.
Platform Syphoning: Ad-Avoidance and Media Content
This paper analyzes the effect of ad-avoidance technology on ad-supported business models.
Ad-avoidance technology is likely to degrade content quality and increase ad prevalence in ad-supported media, generally making firms and consumers worse-off.
Blog Posts
Quotes in the News
Gans, J. (2021, February 19). Asia Times.“Where will this end up? It will end up with the large digital platforms doing deals with the largest news outlets. Those deals will be multi-year lump-sum payments that enable everyone to go about their business.”
Joshua Gans
Professor of Strategic Management
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Gans, J. (2019, July 25). Fast Company.“It may be easier for companies to stay in silos, but that just makes them more vulnerable to disruption.”
Joshua Gans
Professor of Strategic Management
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Gans, J. (2018, May 15). MarketWatch.“Put simply, AI works well when the trading objective is obvious. But when it is complex and hard to describe, there is no substitute for human judgment.”
Joshua Gans
Professor of Strategic Management
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Gans, J. (2017, May 9). The New York Times.“If we look back 10 years from now, I’d be surprised if the Trump effect didn’t show up in the data.”
Joshua Gans
Professor of Strategic Management
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Gans, J. (2014, October 13). The New York Times.“The alternative is what happens in the U.S. where Comcast doesn’t give access to its competitors so Time Warner has to decide whether to build over the top of Comcast or just to stay out of their markets. Had there been access regulation, maybe Time Warner and Comcast would be competing more directly.”
Joshua Gans
Professor of Strategic Management
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
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