The Annual Hicks Lecture 2026 with Susan Athey
Susan Athey
Professor Susan Athey is The Economics of Technology Professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She received her bachelor’s degree from Duke University and her PhD from Stanford, and she holds an honorary doctorate from Duke University.
Her current research focuses on the economics of digitization and the intersection of causal inference and artificial intelligence. She has worked on several application areas, including timber auctions, internet search, online advertising, the news media, labor market transitions, health, and digital technology for social impact.
As one of the first “tech economists,” she served as consulting chief economist for Microsoft Corporation for six years, and has served on the boards of multiple private and public technology firms. She also served as a long-term advisor to the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, helping architect and implement their auction-based pricing system. She was a founding associate director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, where she currently serves as senior fellow, and she is the founding director of the Golub Capital Social Impact Lab at Stanford GSB.
From 2022 to 2024, she took leave from Stanford to serve as Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division. Professor Athey was the 2023 President of the American Economics Association, where she previously served as vice president and elected member of the Executive Committee.
