Tatiana Mayskaya
I am an Assistant Professor of Economics at the International College of Economics and Finance and at the Faculty of Economic Sciences (Department of Theoretical Economics) in Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia
My page on HSE website
Research Interests: Information Economics, Economic Theory, Behavioral Economics
Contact: tmayskaya@gmail.com
Visit YouTube for my presentations
Publications
Two agents announce the state they consider most likely infinitely many times. A small departure from common belief in rationality can have a severe impact on the belief about the state and on the behavior of an extremist: while initial periods of disagreement produce a temporary convergence of beliefs, prolonged disagreement induces reversion towards the initial belief. The mechanism is simple: the longer the counterpart insists on the opposite view, the more the extremist doubts that the counterpart is intellectually capable and honest, and therefore the more he discounts the counterpart's opinion.
supersedes Disagreement Under Almost Common Knowledge of Rationality ICEF Working Paper WP9/2020/01 All versions
Working Papers
(last version: June 5, 2022) R&R in European Economic Review Presentation video (35 min) Slides ICEF Working Paper WP9/2019/05 All versions
An agent learns in continuous time from two information sources, each associated with a hypothesis. If a hypothesis is true, the associated source confirms it at a positive rate. False hypotheses are never confirmed. The agent's optimal learning strategy has two phases. During the first phase, the agent follows his beliefs; that is, at each moment, he learns from the source associated with the most likely hypothesis according to his current beliefs. During the second phase, he follows the opposite rule and focuses on the least likely hypothesis.
(last version: June 16, 2022) R&R in Games and Economic Behavior Presentation video (30 min) Slides All versions
A rational principal delegates learning to an overconfident agent who overestimates the precision of the information he collects. The principal chooses between two contracts: commitment, in which the agent commits to the duration of learning in advance, and flexible, in which the agent decides when to stop learning in real time. When the agent is sufficiently overconfident, the principal optimally ties the agent's hands by offering him the commitment contract. When the principal can choose both the contract and the agent's level of overconfidence, selecting the rational agent is suboptimal when the cost of learning is sufficiently high.
(last version: March 29, 2023) resubmitted to Journal of Economic Theory Presentation video (25 min) Slides Supplementary material All versions
A hider publicly commits to the number of seekers and then privately gets involved in a story, which may be compromising. Each seeker aims to be the first to learn and report a compromising story. The seekers learn the story privately and in continuous time. With more seekers, the hider's story gets revealed at a faster rate, but each seeker gets discouraged and ceases learning more quickly. To reduce the probability of a compromising report, the hider may optimally choose infinitely many seekers. Nevertheless, the hider unambiguously benefits from making it harder for each seeker to learn her story.
We study optimal diversity (in expertise) in hiring decisions. The key trade-off is that, while hiring a more diverse team enlarges the team's pool of knowledge, it may also discourage communication between the hired experts. Equilibrium diversity balances this trade-off. We find that a gradual reduction in communication costs can lower diversity, but a big reduction in communication costs will eventually foster diversity.
(last version: May 26, 2023) submitted Presentation video (30 min) Slides CEPR Discussion Paper 17947 All versions
A merger of two companies that are active in seemingly unrelated markets creates data linkage: by selling a product in one market, the merged company acquires informational advantage in a competitive insurance market. In the insurance market, the informed insurer earns an economic rent through cream-skimming. Some of this rent is competed away in the product market. Overall, the data linkage makes consumers better off. The role of competitiveness of each market, the possibility of market monopolization and the data-sharing requirement are discussed.
We study the effect of a two-to-one merger on R&D activity in a dynamic model in which there is uncertainty about the feasibility of innovation. Once an innovation has already taken place, the merger may block future innovations (cannibalization effect). The merger may increase the probability of the first innovation (appropriability effect). The merger may bring the first innovation forward in time (informational effect). The merger may increase innovation diversity (diversity effect).
What is the optimal diversity of expertise in a team? Prat (2002) shows that a supermodular production function (which describes strategic complementarity between individual outputs) implies a lower optimal diversity than a submodular function (which corresponds to strategic substitutability). We investigate how optimal diversity changes as the production function adjusts continuously from a supermodular to a submodular function. The Utilitarian objective gives an intuitive monotonic relationship. However, the Rawlsian objective, an objective that optimizes the worst scenario, generates a non-monotonic relationship: optimal diversity may fall with increasing weighting on the submodular component of the production function.
Work in Progress
Presentations by me or a coauthor
1 June 2023
Second FES-ICEF-NES Workshop in Microeconomic Theory (HSE University, Moscow)
Diversity in Teams slides
14 April 2023
XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development (HSE University, Moscow)
Data Linkage between Markets: Does the Emergence of an Informed Insurer Cause Consumer Harm? slides
6 December 2022
Second Workshop on Contracts, Incentives and Information (CEPR event; Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin, Italy)
Imposing Commitment to Rein in Overconfidence in Learning slides
presented by Arina Nikandrova
5 December 2022
NES30 Academic Conference in Memory of Gur Ofer (online)
Data Linkage between Markets: Does the Emergence of an Informed Insurer Cause Consumer Harm? slides
4 November 2022
The 8th Lancaster Game Theory Conference (Lancaster University, UK)
Data Linkage between Markets: Does the Emergence of an Informed Insurer Cause Consumer Harm? slides
presented by Arina Nikandrova
21 October 2022
Workshop in Information Economics in Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
Data Linkage between Markets: Does the Emergence of an Informed Insurer Cause Consumer Harm? slides
16 July 2022
The 21th Annual Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET) Conference (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, Online)
Does Reducing Communication Barriers Promote Diversity? slides
16 July 2022
The 21th Annual Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET) Conference (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, Online)
The Effect of Data-Driven Mergers on Insurance Markets slides
presented by Arina Nikandrova
10 June 2022
Conference in Birkbeck, University of London
The Effect of Data-Driven Mergers on Insurance Markets slides
presented by Arina Nikandrova
8 June 2022
Economic Theory Workshop (City, University of London)
The Dark Side of Transparency: When Hiding in Plain Sight Works slides
presented by Arina Nikandrova
18 May 2022
Micro Theory Workshop (HSE Moscow, Online)
The Effect of Data-Driven Mergers on Insurance Markets slides
8 April 2022
Pennsylvania Economic Theory Conference (PETCO) (PennState University, PA, US)
Diversity and Communication slides
presented by Miaomiao Dong
28 March 2022
Digital Economy Network Workshop (University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, Online)
The Effect of Data-Driven Mergers on Insurance Markets slides
presented by Arina Nikandrova
23 February 2022
PennState Theory Workshop
Diversity and Communication slides
presented by Miaomiao Dong
4 December 2021
The 8th Annual Economic Theory Conference (Arizona State University, AZ, US)
Diversity and Communication slides
presented by Miaomiao Dong
27 October 2021
City, University of London
Imposing Commitment to Rein in Overconfidence in Learning slides
presented by Arina Nikandrova
14 October 2021
ICEF-FES-NES Micro Theory Workshop in Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
Imposing Commitment to Rein in Overconfidence in Learning slides
1 September 2021
Learning, Evolution and Games Conference (LEG) (Online)
Privacy Paradox: When Hiding in Plain Sight Works slides
22 July 2021
The 6th World Congress of the Game Theory Society (GAMES) (Budapest, Hungary, Online)
Privacy Paradox: When Hiding in Plain Sight Works slides
30 June 2021
WEAI Virtual 96th Annual Conference
Implications of Overconfidence on Information Investment slides
13 June 2021
The 20th Annual Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET) Conference (Seoul, South Korea, Online)
Privacy Paradox: When Hiding in Plain Sight Works slides
3 June 2021
NRU Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Online)
Privacy Paradox: When Does Hiding in Plain Sight Work? slides
9 February 2021
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (Online)
Privacy Paradox: When Does Hiding in Plain Sight Work? slides
23 December 2020
NRU Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Online)
Diversity and Communication slides
15 October 2020
City, University of London (Online)
Privacy Paradox: When Does Hiding in Plain Sight Work? slides
presented by Arina Nikandrova
August 2020
The 12th World Congress of the Econometric Society (Bocconi University, Online)
Privacy Paradox: When Does Hiding in Plain Sight Work? slides
25 November 2019
The 89th Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association (Fort Lauderdale, FL, US)
Privacy Paradox: When Does Hiding in Plain Sight Work? slides
22 November 2019
ITAM (Mexico)
Privacy Paradox: When Does Hiding in Plain Sight Work? slides
31 October 2019
NRU Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
Disagreement Under Almost Common Knowledge of Rationality slides
presented by Emiliano Catonini
31 October 2019
NRU Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
Privacy Paradox: When Does Hiding in Plain Sight Work? slides
17 July 2019
The 30th International Conference on Game Theory (Stony Brook University, NY, US)
When Should We Care About Privacy? slides
1 July 2019
The 19th Annual Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET) Conference (Ischia, Italy)
Disagreement Under Almost Common Knowledge of Rationality slides
4 April 2019
NRU Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
When Should We Care About Privacy? Information Collection in Games slides
13 December 2018
NRU Higher School of Economics (Saint Petersburg)
Implications of Overconfidence on Information Investment slides
5 December 2018
NRU Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
Endogenous Choice Between Ultimatum and Dictator Games: Experimental Evidence slides
19 November 2018
The 88th Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association (Washington, DC, US)
Endogenous Choice Between Ultimatum and Dictator Games: Experimental Evidence slides
2 November 2018
The 4th Lancaster Game Theory Conference (Lancaster University, UK)
Cognitive Hierarchical Model in Networks slides
1 November 2018
Birkbeck, University of London
Endogenous Choice Between Ultimatum and Dictator Games: Experimental Evidence slides
27 October 2018
The 10th Lisbon Meeting in Game Theory and Applications (Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Portugal)
Cognitive Hierarchical Model in Networks slides
27 August 2018
European Summer Meeting of the Econometric Society (University of Cologne, Germany)
Dynamic Choice of Information Sources slides
18 July 2018
The 29th International Conference on Game Theory (Stony Brook University, NY, US)
Cognitive Hierarchical Model in Networks slides
21 June 2018
North American Summer Meeting of the Econometric Society (UC Davis, CA, US)
Dynamic Choice of Information Sources slides
12 June 2018
The 18th Annual Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET) Conference (Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan)
Implications of Overconfidence on Information Investment slides
31 May 2018
Toulouse School of Economics
Dynamic Choice of Information Sources slides
18 November 2017
The 3rd Lancaster Game Theory Conference (Lancaster University, UK)
Implications of Overconfidence on Information Investment slides
13 November 2017
Cambridge University
Dynamic Choice of Information Sources slides
9 November 2017
University of Warwick
Dynamic Choice of Information Sources slides
7 November 2017
Oxford University (Nuffield College)
Dynamic Choice of Information Sources slides
20 July 2017
The 28th International Conference on Game Theory (Stony Brook University, NY, US)
Dynamic Choice of Information Sources slides
24 February 2017
Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper School of Business)
Dynamic Choice of Information Sources slides
22 December 2016
NRU Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
Dynamic Choice of Information Sources slides
4 March 2016
The 18th Southwest Economic Theory (SWET) Conference (UC Riverside, CA, US)
Selective Exposure to Information slides